Of Cats, Avatars, and Rising Moons
by Dreaming-Of-A-Nightmare
Summary: Zuko is dumped into the Spirit World while at Ba Sing Se, and has a 'fuzzy,' only-broken-by-love spell cast on him. Someone must change his heart, and Aang seems to be the person cut out for the job. .:. In which the cliche kitty!Zuko plot is used, but in a Zukaang-centered manner, done via S3 re-write. .:. Back on hiatus because of Once-lers. :'C
1. Chapter I

**A/N: So, I bet you are all wondering why the hell I'm writing an overly cliché plotline of "somebody getting turned into an animal, mainly a cat, and having to break the spell by getting someone to love them, like some kind of Beauty and the Beast parody." Well, I have a perfectly logical explanation, really…**

**I read a Zukaang where Zuko was a cat, but I wanted to make my own version, so I started to draw a cover and the first two pages of a doujinshi version after having planned out an entire plot, but then I realized that I really an not cut out to be a doujin artist because I'm really not that good of an artist, especially not in sequence, so I better just stick to what I know best, which is writing.**

**So here I am, pathetically enough. And yes, I do realize that that hadn't been a very logical excuse whatsoever. #laughs# Oh well. Enjoy this anyway, because I promise that it will be as awesome as I am capable of.**

**Takes place:  
Immediately after Katara removes an unconscious and lightning-struck Aang out of the crystal chambers in – or, rather, **_**under**_** – Ba Sing Se. Continues throughout pre-season three and the entire third season.**

**Pairings:  
Mainly Zukaang, but also tiny hints and semi-fluffy moments for other pairings, like Teoph and Taang and Kataang and Zutara and Toko and Sukka.**

**Rated:  
T, if you hadn't noticed; for swearing and sexual innuendo and fantasy violence and gratuitous amounts of fluff.**

**Extra notes:  
Focuses on Zuko, but is not in first-person POV. Present-tensed, despite the fact that the series is finito. I have no beta, so please excuse typos (if I see them, I will try to fix them as soon as I can, but if you see them, please tell me).**

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_It is funny how you can be at one place one moment and then an entirely different place the next. And it's not that teleportation is at all possible; it just seems that, given the proper timing, location, and circumstances, spiritual transportation is possible instead._

_Zuko knows that this is true mainly because of the Avatar and his own uncle's alleged trip, but he also knows this because he, too, seems to have stumbled into the Spirit World._

Chapter I

The wind begins to pick up, blowing snow directly into his face. He reaches a hand up to block the bright glare of white, and keeps the flakes out of his eyes. They cling to his hair, and a shiver runs through him. But it isn't cold here; the snow is soft like cotton sheets, and warm like candlelight. This is no winterscape; it might look like one in the sense that snowy hills roll on for miles and miles in every direction, but the sparkling precipitation is not real. It hardly possesses any substance.

This must be a dream.

But no, Zuko doesn't remember falling asleep, nor being knocked unconscious. The last thing he remembers is staring up at the waterbending peasant and the Avatar, shooting up in a waterstorm to the surface of Ba Sing Se's streets outside of the palace. He was beneath the Earth King's little mansion, in an underground city lit by glowing green crystals.

Zuko remembers being there, about to leave with his heavy heart and sick stomach to meet up with his sister, whom had moved ahead to the throne room above, when…

When…

He shakes his head, because the next part is a bit of a blur. It involved losing his balance and splashing into a pool of crystalline water, the blue-green light surrounding him as he struggled to resurface, but only seemed to fall further down, until he was blinded by some kind of light.

And so, here he is. In the Spirit World. He has no idea where his body is, only that he must be without it because he isn't dripping wet like he should be, and isn't dead, either. At least he hopes he isn't.

The ex-prince of the Fire Nation wanders steadily onward, looking for a way out of this Agni-forsaken place. He doesn't know why he's here, but he is all too intent on getting out somehow. He doesn't like feeling lost like this; he's been lost enough in his life, constantly straying from the proverbial path.

He sighs, and drops to his knees. The snow crunches beneath his legs, and his hands run through it like sand. The snow above continues to fall, but it flows straight due to the sudden lack of wind once more. He can taste sugar, and he doesn't know why. A few snowflakes linger on his cheeks, warming them.

"This is too bizarre," he whispers to himself. He forces himself to stand and look around. Angered, he shouts, "Just why am I here, huh? What do you damn spirits want with me?"

With a gust of almost white-hot air, Zuko is knocked onto his bottom. He gazes up after shaking himself from his startled daze to find a figure standing before him. Where had this woman come from? She is decked out in white, even her hair, and her eyes are a freezing blue. Her lips palely pink, she parts them to speak.

"I know you, Zuko," she says, and her voice echoes hollowly. Zuko shivers again, this time not from the surprising warmth of his location, but instead from the eerie way that this girl feels familiar to him. "I've been watching you ever since the North Pole."

"The N-North Pole?" he sputters, because that might explain the snowy wasteland around him. "What do you know about the North Pole?"

"I know that Zhao nearly succeeded in killing the Moon Spirit. I know that you tried to kidnap the Avatar. And I know, too, that you are in dire need of help. Your heart is like this landscape: trying to be warmed, and yet persistently becomes iced over. You have a cold heart, and yet warm blood. The contradiction living inside of you is tearing you apart, and unless you take the help I am about to offer you, you will surely have misfortune befall you."

Her words sting him like the pricks of frozen needles on skin during the process of frostbite. He scrambles up to his feet, staring her down with the most powerful glare he could muster, his golden eyes hardening. "And what if I don't want your help? – Just who are you, anyway?"

"My name used to be Yue," she murmurs gently. "But that is unimportant now. What is important is fixing you before your further break yourself. You made a poor choice tonight, Zuko; the spirits have all seen this, just as they see everything. And they thought that, being a god of shapeshifting as I am, I might be able to assist you."

"And just how do you plan to do that?" he remarks skeptically.

"There is but one option I think would be suitable," Yue says slowly. Zuko's heart races a bit in anticipation. Then, Yue closes her eyes, only to flutter them open again as she tells the firebender, "In order to warm your heart and mend the consequences of your ill decisions, I have decided to take it upon myself to transform your body into an animal, only granting you your usual form when your heart is warmed by another."

He understood now: this girl used to be the princess of the Water Tribe, but when the Moon Spirit died, she had to give up her own life to restore balance. And since the moon has many phases ranging from crescent to full to none at all, and since it had once been a koi on the Earth, it can project shapeshifting onto others. And, it seems, the only way to break such a spell is to, what, fall in _love_?

"Yes, Zuko, it is as you must be thinking at this moment: you will have to fall in love with somebody and get them to care for you in return before you will be able to be human again. However, I can permit you to have a semi-human body when the moon rises each night; but your animal ears and tail will remain, because they are too difficult to get rid of, and would signify that the spell is broken." Yue floats down to touch his face, and he shrinks back from her touch, because it feels like a ghost: misty and cool. "Now, then: do you accept, Prince Zuko? Or will you dismiss this chance and have misfortune befall you?"

Zuko blinks rapidly a few times, his mind racing frantically. "What kind of misfortune?" he asks hesitantly.

Yue nods once before casting her arms off to the side. An icy sheet, much like a mirror, appears. She holds it up to him, and shows him five images: his uncle in prison, and himself barking insults and stubborn remarks at the old man; his father shooting lightning at him in some underground rocky chamber; the waterbender, Katara, threatening him in some room with windows and a dusty bed and endtable; himself in prison on what seems to be the Boiling Rock, with an ugly man with fat, girlish lips smirking at him (the warden, he guesses); and, finally, Azula striking him with lightning during a battle as a comet flies overhead.

"Some of these awful things can be avoided if you chose to take my offer," she tells him. "But other things will happen anyhow, because it is fated." She makes the mirror vanish before looking deeply into his eyes, as if peering into his heart. He can feel himself grow tense. "Knowing this, what will you choose?"

Zuko mulls this over. On the one hand, he isn't sure if he can trust what this spirit has shown him, but on the other, he can't seem to disbelieve her. But life as an animal? He thought he had it rough before, living as a fugitive; but could he really live as an _animal_? And depending on which he became, how would he get somebody to accept and, in a matter of speaking, love him? And how can he love anyone at all? The person he has ever loved was his mother. And, to some extent, his uncle.

_Oh, Uncle. How could I have betrayed you like that?_ He thinks offhandedly, his mind elsewhere, and yet still having enough heart to think about how he had chosen to go with Azula, something he already regrets.

"I can feel your regret, Zuko," Yue says gently as she places a hand on his shoulder. He glances up at her face, and finds her smiling. "And I think I understand. You will accept, won't you?"

He nods, his throat constricting. It doesn't settle right with him, and yet, what other choice does he have? He doesn't much like his future otherwise. So, an animal it is. He nods once, unsure, but it is as sure as he can possibly be.

"Very well," Yue says in finality, as if something is ending. "Then so shall it be." She touches his forehead, and he feels sudden sleepiness fall over him. He feels as though he is falling, but he can still hear Yue's voice speaking to him, her words swirling around his mind and following him on the way down. "When you awake, you will be lying beside the pool you had fallen into, and you will be in your animal form. You will then head up to the palace and out of the city, until you come across a group of Fire Nation soldiers. Hop into one of their bags. You will be taken onto a ship that will be taken over by a band of people you know well: the Avatar and his friends. Among them, you will meet your one true love. Good luck, Prince. I wish you well, because you are entitled to a happier ending."

xXxXx

Zuko groans, his voice sounding odd to his ears as he rolls onto his side and wearily pushes himself up on his hands and knees. He wobbles for a moment, but quickly regains his balance as his eyes come into focus.

He peers over the edge of what he's sitting by, and finds a pool of water. But as he looks into it, he doesn't see himself. In his place, he sees the face and pointed ears of a little black cat with gold eyes, its left eye furless and surrounded by a reddish, leathery burn scar. He reels back in shock, but as he does so, memories flood back to his mind.

So it hadn't been some horrible nightmare like part of him had wished; Yue is real, and she had done this to him. Turned him into a cute little kitty, and a teenage one at that. He hisses in disgust, but soon clamps his paws over his fanged mouth, because humans don't hiss. But cats do. Which only makes this reality all the more unbearable. He groans again, a long mewl escaping his throat like a painful cry.

Frustrated, his claws pop out as he scratches at the surface of the water. He shouldn't have agreed to this! What good is being a cat? He can't firebend, and what's worse, people will probably fawn over him now. People love cats. He, personally, could identify now with why most cats like to go off by themselves, and why they are so independent and hot-headed: it's because they don't like being so cuddly, nor fawned over.

Snorting at his predicament but accepting that he can't do a thing about it, Zuko heads up to the palace above and out into the city. It is still nighttime, and in the distance, he can hear a bison's roar.

He might as well find a place to rest for the night before the moon rises and people see him; he doubts that a cat-eared, cat-tailed human being will be widely accepted into an inn. So, he heads off into the direction of the outskirts of the vast city, his kitty feet running at full speed, his lungs astonishingly not tired.

Zuko comes across a safe alleyway with a thrown-out mattress lying in it. He curls up on the mattress beneath a ratty, dirty blanket, hoping that he will be able to catch that ship he's supposed to be on.


	2. Chapter II

Chapter II

Zuko yawns and stretches, his catnap over with. He arcs his back and reaches his arms out in front of him, his tail curling above his spine. A chill runs over him, the hairs on his arms standing up on end. It is here that he looks over himself, realizing that he is naked, and semi-human again. The moon shines above him, and he nearly falls off of the dingy mattress in the alley when he figures this out: his fur is like his clothing, but still is merely part of his cat-body, which means that, as a human… he will wake up naked every time.

He blushes. Now, that can be a problem. He best come up with a way to get clothing each night, or else he might be caught like this by somebody.

Thinking quickly, Zuko wraps the mangy blanket around his body and races through the early morning light, the moon on its last leg. It will be dawn soon, and the moon will vanish. He hasn't much time on his long, human legs before he is reduced to running back to his apartment as a cat. And he needs his human thumbs in order to pack his bag and secure it to his body before he transforms back. He only hopes that, upon shrinking, the bag remains tight enough to not fall off. Maybe, if he puts it around his neck, it will be the right size to shimmy onto his back when he becomes a cat again…

_Great, I'm already getting used to this,_ he thinks in a mental grumble as he slows his pace. He is in front of the Jasmine Dragon, his new apartment located just above it. He sneaks around back, hiding his feline ears beneath the blanket as he lightly treads up the stairs to his room. The door is locked, but he's able to pry it open with a bit of force. Hopefully no one heard him.

He quickly gathers up his things as early-morning blue-grey light pours in through the windows. For safety, he ties his twin swords to the bag and tightens the belt until it nearly chokes him. And then he waits.

The sun rises, filling him temporarily with the familiar fiery feeling of firebending power before it rises completely and the moon disappears in its blinding orange light. He feels himself shudder all over, his limbs and torso aching with such ferocity that he doubles over, gasping for breath. His body contorts, and then, in one ripple, his shortened form becomes furry, and as the numbing pain recedes into nothing, Zuko knows that he is a cat once more.

'She could have made it less painful,' he says, but it comes out as meows. Shrugging the pack onto his back and pulling it tighter with his teeth, Zuko twitches his whiskers. Then, praying to the gods that cats truly do land on their feet, he flees out the window.

It is time to meet his revamped destiny.

xXxXx

It takes a little under a couple weeks to find the soldiers, wait out in the haul of the ship as they go about their daily routine, and finally, until the Avatar's gang resumes command over the ship and casts out the soldiers, stealing their uniforms.

It is the following day of this capture that Zuko wanders out from the depths of the storage bunker and dares to catch glimpses of the young group members. These are people he's known for over half a year now, and yet… Because they were his enemies, one of them his target, and since he has only ever seen them angrily fighting back against him, he doesn't know what to think.

Like a frightened animal (which he essentially is), Zuko slips down a hallway towards the sound of voices. Some men step out of a room and their shoes clang against the steel floor of the ship as they walk past him. They don't notice the teeny black figure; it blends with the shadows, save for its golden eyes.

There are more voices up ahead, one seemingly female. He follows its sound, and finds himself in front of a cracked metal door. He wriggles in through the hole, his heart racing. Does he dare keep going? He's in the room now, and he can see the waterbender girl on a cot, talking to another girl; an earthbender, judging by her green clothing beneath her Fire Nation cloak.

He studies them for a moment. They look so harmless, suddenly; and he himself feels harmless. Zuko pads over a thin carpet towards them, feeling oddly curious. The two girls' voices reach his perked ears, and he pays attention to what they are saying.

"He's so pale, Toph. Sometimes, when I don't concentrate on his breathing, I forget that he's alive. I'm worried sick over him. When do you think he'll wake up?"

The earthbender – Toph, Zuko thinks he heard her name as – shrugs her shoulders as she brings her knees up to her chest and hugs them. Her eyes are a milky jade green. She's blind. "Please don't talk about it, Katara. There's no way of knowing, y'know? We just have to hope that Aang will come out of this coma-thingy eventually, or at least before the eclipse. We need him around. And not just because he's the Avatar."

Katara nods solemnly, her blue eyes watering. "I get what you mean. I just… get so scared sometimes. I feel like I did something wrong, but I used the water from the Spirit Oasis, so he should be fine, right? And yet he won't wake up. Do you think something else is making him remain unconscious?"

"Well, he did go see that guru guy," Toph remarks as she releases her knees and picks at the nubs on the blanket beneath her. "Maybe some kind of spiritual thingy happened and royally fudged him up. Who knows? All I know is, I want Aang back. I… miss him, Katara," she utters softly, as if she is ashamed of missing someone. She promptly punches the other girl in the arm. "Don't tell anyone I said that, either!" she barks, her ears flushing pink with embarrassment.

Katara rubs her arm. "I got it, I got it." She shakes her head, the loops of hair in front of her face swaying. _She is kind of pretty,_ Zuko thinks randomly. _Is she supposed to be the person I fall for?_

Just then, Toph hops off the bed, sending vibrations through the floor. "Hey, wait a minute," she says. Zuko stiffens. "Katara, are my feet playing tricks on me, or is there a cat-shaped figure in the corner of the room by the door?" she inquires with a point of her finger. Zuko stiffens further, his tail sticking up in the air. How could she see him? She's blind!

"What? There can't be cats on a ship in the middle of the ocean –" She cuts herself off as her eyes are drawn in the direction of Toph's pointing finger. Her eyes quint as her gaze settles on the shadows and makes out Zuko's figure. "There _is _a cat there! – Hey, Kitty; how did you get on the ship? Were you a pet of one of the soldiers?" she coos, and slides off of the cot to slowly walk over to him.

Zuko backs up slightly, and with a nervous gulp, he releases a low hiss, teeth bared. He paws at the air, claws out, to warn them that they shouldn't come any closer or else he'll attack. They are his enemies, after all!

"Uh-oh," Toph says with a low whistle, "Somebody's pissy. I wonder why it's so ticked at us?"

Zuko steadily becomes less tense. Her words remind him of his reason for being here: he has to get close to these people. He has to allow them to warm his heart, or else he will be stuck like this for Agni knows how long; maybe forever, until he dies! And for a cat, death isn't too far away. They don't live very long in human years.

"Here, kitty, kitty, kitty," Katara coaxes as she bends over, one hand on her knee, the other extended out towards Zuko with her thumb rubbing in a circle over her index and middle fingers. Zuko forces himself to step closer. "That's it, nice and slow. I won't hurt you." As he comes into the light, she gasps. "Oh, you poor thing! Toph, it has a burn over its left eye. Its owner must have abused it."

"Poor kitty," Toph sympathizes and she, too, crouches down near him. She holds out a hand limply. "Are you scared of people? You don't have to be, you know. I might look tough, and Sugar Queen over there might look like a bitch, but I swear she's just as sweet as her nickname to animals."

Katara frowns in the younger girl's direction, her tone taking on an offended attitude. "Are you saying that I'm not sweet to people, then? I'm plenty sweet!"

Toph snorts in laughter. "I'm only joking, Katara. I'm just trying to make the cat feel safer, since he started off pretty hostile."

"As if it can understand you," Katara sighs. "I wish it could, though. Then maybe it would be friendlier."

_Actually, I can understand you,_ Zuko thinks to himself. _Friendly, though? I don't think I can be friendly... I haven't been since I was a kid._

Nonetheless, he makes the effort by stepping closer and makin g a move to sniff Toph's hand. She smells like fresh dirt after a rain, and the grease on metal hinges, and bamboo, and vaguely like spicy ginger. He likes her smell, and without being abe to control himself, he nudges her hand with his nose until she starts stroking his head.

_Damn, that feels good. Why does it feel so good to be pet?_ He thinks fuzzily as Toph grins and says to Katara, "Look, he likes me!"

"How do you know it's a boy?" Katara wonders as she kneels down beside the earthbender and starts stroking the length of Zuko's back, stopping at the base of his tail to give it a scratching session.

"Because I can see outlines of figures from vibration, Katara, and let me tell you, he isn't female."

The ex-prince would blush if he were human. Zuko shakes off this embarrassing remark in place of the pleasant feeling of being pet and scratched.

Unable to help himself, he arches his back and lifts his rear into the air, leaning into the scratch. That feels amazing, too! What is with cats, anyway? They have it made, being touched like this. And oh, now Toph is rubbing unde rhis chin, and it tickles! He leans his head up, feeling her small fingers scratch lightly with bitten nails and pet down his fluffy chest. He isn't a long-haired cat, but he isn't a snort-haired one, either; he's somewhere in between, a mutt.

"I take it back," the waterbender giggles, "He is friendly, once you give him time to warm up."

"He's so soft," Toph says fondly. "Like Momo."

"Not to mention utterly adorable, his scar aside," Katara coos, and as Toph stops petting, she does as well, only to scoop him up. He releases a startled mewl, and makes the older girl giggle again. "Sorry, Kitty." She considers him for a moment. "Hmm. We kicked off all of the previous passengers of this ship, so you have nobody to take care of you, huh? And you must be hungry, too, since it's been a while since the soldiers left! How 'bout Toph and I take care of you? Would you like that?"

Zuko isn't sure what he woud like, since this situation is still highly awkward – he's stolen this girl's necklace and used it for ransom, for crying out loud – but he doesn't have much choice, especially since he ran out of food in his pack three days ago, and is starving. He meows once to show his consent, his voice raspy like it is as a human.

"Okay! Then let's get you fed," Katara says brightly. Her mood is lifted from talking about Aang, he can tell.

Hmm. Aang. So that is the airbender's name, huh? He will have to keep that in mind, in case he ever has the chance to talk to one of these people. He doesn't want to sound rude by calling the boy 'Avatar' like he used to. Not if he has to win the heart of one of the people on this ship, and be as polite as possible to do so.

After all, he has a good side to him; Zuko is sure that he does, because not everybody can be completely evil, right? And he used to be a sweet kid, hadn't he?

_So perhaps there is hope for me yet,_ he thinks to himself as he traipses behind Katara to the scullery.


	3. Chapter III

Chapter III

A week passes in no time, and Zuko finds himself starting to get comfortable with two square meals a day and the occasional comfort-based petting session. He knows it's comfort-based because half the time he's only being touched because someone is upset. Usually Katara, whom he noticed disappears now and again to a room down one of the halls. Most likely to heal the Avatar some more, in hopes that he will wake up one day.

The other people on the ship have grown accustomed to having a cat on board. They seem not to mind, and with a verbal stab from Sokka, Zuko has become known as Patches, because of his patch of scar tissue over his left eye. The name stuck, unfortunately.

He only issue Zuko has been having is keeping his human body out of sight. At night, he usually leaves either Katara's or Toph's bedchamber before the moon rises. He then races to the cargo hold where his pack is stored, and after transforming with a rumble of raw pain, stretching, and the shedding of everything except his ears and tail, he changes into his clothes. They are beginning to smell a little, because he wears them for a few hours every night and hasn't had the chance to wash them, but he's had worse.

But other than this, Zuko no longer minds being a cat. He has certain freedoms he has never had before, like the chance to listen in on any conversation he wishes without being considered a disgraceful eavesdropper. And he can finally feel affection, something he hadn't even realized he's been starved from and has been craving.

His walls are beginning to erode away, the emotional barrier he set between himself and others melting as he accepts their touches and cooing and gentle words. It is almost as if he is becoming someone new, like he had felt he was after his sickness, which Iroh called his 'metamorphosis'.

If cats could smile, Zuko would be at the moment. He is currently perched on Sokka's cot while the warrior-in-training talks to his father about making port in a few weeks to gather some supplies, because they will be out by then. They are also trying to work out whether they should go dressed as firebenders, or themselves. His father says that it depends on where they make port; pretty soon, he warns, they will be entering Fire Nation territory, and when they do, the seas are no longer safe for them, so they will have to be cautious.

Growing bored, Zuko hops off of the cot and pads between them, his paws as silent as a feather on the water. Sokka calls out, "Where ya goin', little buddy?" but Zuko ignores him. He wants to find Katara.

Katara has been especially kind to him, probably because she pities him for his scar. She thinks he was abused, and in a sense, he had been. He kind of likes her; she has a strange personality, the sort that can almost become irksome, since she can be as violent and harsh or as calm and soothing as the sea during or after a storm. But he remembers how she empathized with him in that cave, so maybe she's the one for him.

"Oh, hi, Patches," she greets as he locates her on the top of the ship, looking out over the water. Some of the salty sea is weaving between her fingers as she thinks about something.

He boldly nudges her leg, something he hasn't done before. She is distracted, and he wonders if he should try to help. He mewls softly and tilts his head to the side, asking, 'What's up with you?'

As if catching his meaning, she replies with a sigh, "I was just about to go visit Aang for today's healing. But his wounds aren't getting better as fast as normal ones do, and he still isn't showing any signs of waking." She turns away from the rim overlooking the water as she tugs on her braid. "Want to come with me, Patches? I could use the company."

He would shrug if he were human. In place of the shrug, he bobs his head.

Katara frowns. "Funny, if I didn't know any better, I would swear that you just nodded," she says with a confused smile. "Oh well. Let's go, then, Patchy."

He follows her back the way he came, into the inner workings of the ship. They tap down one of the few hallways until they reach the bedroom at the end, the one he has never dared enter, but has seen others slip into now and then.

He enters the room slowly, sniffing the air. It smells like sweat, the kind you have when you wake with a start from a nightmare. It also smells vaguely like burnt flesh (not at all a nice scent), and as he inches closer to the cot in the center of the room, Zuko can smell something welcoming, something crisp; something that he can only relate to a spring breeze, full of grassy and flowery and airy smells. He blinks his golden cat eyes, his slit pupils dilating as he light from two overhead torches are lit by Katara with some spark rocks.

"Hello again, Aang," Katara murmurs warmly but dejectedly. She knows that he can't hear her, and by the look in her eyes, Zuko sees a fretting, doting mother peering over her ill son. "I brought you a visitor." She peers over her shoulder at Zuko. With a pat to the sheets on the cot, she says with a forced smile, "Come on up and see him, Patches. I want you to meet the savior of the world."

He frowns, his cat-brows puckers beneath the few stray whiskers above his right eye. He leaps onto the cot and tentatively creeps over to beside the boy's chest on the opposite side of the bed from where Katara is seated.

"Doesn't he look younger when he's asleep?" Katara mutters under her breath, and Zuko glances over at her for a moment before really looking at Aang's face for the first time since the Northern Water Tribe incident, when the boy's body had been left before during a Spirit World journey.

Aang has a childish face because of his age, but it's clearly visible that he's growing out of it. His cheeks aren't as pudgy as they used to be, back when Zuko first met him at the South Pole. His eyes are closed, but Zuko remembers their molten steel color, grey through and through, and yet as soft and warm as heated metal. But he remembers, too, how they would harden during a fight, determined and stubborn like a howling wind to put out a fire.

As a cat, he is physically small, but looking at the arrow-headed boy's face… Zuko feels absolutely microscopic as a person, as if his soul hasn't grown at all, and yet this young boy's has grown thrice times over. He sees, with one glance, precisely why he had never been able to capture this boy: because he is meant to save the world, like Katara said. Aang is cut out for it, whether he knows it or not.

"I've been trying my best to take care of him," Katara utters as she rolls the boy over to inspect his spine. A large scar like a blossoming daisy, spiky around the edges and dark in the center, is smack dab in the middle of the boy's back. "But not much has changed. Azula did a lot of damage."

She scowls as she withdraws water from the pouch on her hip. Her hands glow as she leans down to massage the healing properties of the water into the boy's spine. Even unconscious, the boy's face twists up in pain, and a few strangled cries peep out of his throat at intervals. Zuko cringes at each one.

"And Zuko…" she continues, and the cat beside her freezes, although Katara takes no notice of it. "He just sat by and watched! And I thought he was going to be on our side. Tch. Whatever his sister said to him, I don't care, because he still could have helped, and then maybe this wouldn't have happened." She sniffs, as if she's about to cry. But Zuko himself is trying not to run, because he nearly feels like crying, too. And he doesn't know why, but I could be the guilt already beginning to sink in. He never does anything right. "Sorry, I don't mean to blame him. It's just so easy to, because you don't know Zuko, Patches, but he's been our enemy for a long while now. But, not too long ago… I saw another side of him, and I had hope that maybe he wouldn't be our enemy any more. And I was so prepared to have that happen, too."

The feline beside her lowers his head. What's past is past, but that doesn't mean that he can't agree with her. He should have chose differently. But he got a second chance, didn't he? Yue gave him one, and that's why he's here right now.

Here, beside a waterbender and the Avatar, two people he has fought with and chased for months on end.

Zuko glances back at Aang again, and something stirs within him. It tugs at his heartstrings for a moment, and makes his stomach churn. He blinks, wondering what this is. This… sick feeling. More guilt, perhaps? Or pity, or sympathy? Must be.

He scoots closer to Aang's face as the boy is rolled onto his back once more. "That's enough for today," Katara says. "I'm going, but you xan stay if you want to. You look like you want to, anyway, with how close you're sitting." She smiles.

The ex-prince hadn't even noticed how close he had scooted, but now he is nearly touching the boy. He's never been so close. Aang is… handsome, in his own way. And his hair is starting to grow atop his head, since he hasn't been shaving it for a handful of weeks. His hair is brown, like his eyebrows, Zuko notes.

Katara leaves, and then the little kitty Zuko is left with the person he had been obsessed with since he was thirteen, even befre he knew who Aang was. He cocks his head to the right, his ears drooping as he thinks about how cruel he had been. He hadn't been much better than his own father, albeit much sloppier in his planning. He feels sorry about this, sorry that he had gone up against a twelve-year-old monk.

Suddenly sleepy, Zuko curls into the dip between Aang's neck and shoulder, and falls into a confusing slumber with mixed emotions and scrambled dreams.

xXxXx

Zuko almost wakes up too late, and barely has enough time to race down to where his clothes are hidden before the moon rises.

He leans against the metallic wall of the ship, his clothes feeling strangely thick on his skin as he puts his hands in his hair and squeezes. He had a headache. His ears show his pain by flopping back like an angered kitten. He growls lowly to himself, wondering why he had immediately felt so at home in Aang's room, or at least at home enough to doze of like that, and for so many hours.

Sighing exasperatedly, he rakes his hands one last time over his scalp, careful not to hit his ears. He then decides to get up and do something. Zuko has never been so restless; he has been working out a lot on nights such as this, when he has been wide-awake and full of excess energy.

So he does a few hot squats and other martial arts exercises, minus the firebending, but plus his swords when he feels like it. It consoles him to sweat and move his body; cat muscles aren't conducive to exercise outside of running, jumping, and landing. And stalking; there are a few rats on the ship, and he likes to mess with them from time to time out of boredom and due to instinct.

The night passes, and as the moon – which he has come to curse, because once again, a waterbending thing has the upper hand on him, full con trol with his physical form – falls behind the rays of the sun.

He wanders upstairs once his clothes are hidden once more. He's very hungry now, after practicing all night with his stances and swords.

He stumbles across Toph, and she gives him some of her breakfast. "Heya, Kitty-Cat. Guess we're only good as servants, huh? Feeding you and petting you and stuff, and then you run off every night. Just where do you go, anyhow?"

Zuko pauses in his eating. She kind of has a point.

He looks up at her and mews, before finishing one last bite and getting up. "Wait, where are you headed now?" she asks, and means to follow. He'll show her where he goes. She's the newest in the group, and so she doesn't have anything against him. If anything, maybe he can make a friend on this ship that knows at least part of his secret. It will keep him a little saner, at least. He can't get cauht up in this feline business all the time.

He leads her down into the haul, where his stuff is buried behind some crates. He sits down beside them. "What's this?" she says, and feels around the metal until her hands touch the shapes her earthbending vision is showing her. "Clothes? And… something sheathed… a sword?" She frowns. "Why do you have this stuff, Patchy? Was it your owner's?"

He nudges Toph until her hands touch his scar. She feels around his eye, memorizing it for the first time, since normally her hands avoid his eyes since she doesn't want to accidentally poke them. But he has his left eye closed to allow her to make the connection between the swords and his scar, if she can.

"You know," she says, "This reminds me of what Katara said Zuko's scar felt like. I'm the only person who knows what happened while she was being held captive down in those crystal chambers. It's a girl thing to tell and keep secrets, I guess." She starts scratching behind his ears. "You're a weird one, Patches. I might have to keep my eye on you from now on. Would you mind if I came down here some time at night to see what you do down here? – Hey, maybe I can even help you catch a few mice. What d'ya say?"

He nods his head, his heart drumming in his throat. This is it, then. He's going to give up his secret to one person, and only after a few weeks of being around. But he needs this, and if anybody, Toph is the only person on this ship that might not mind him as much, and could quite possibly understand him, although probably not his situation.


	4. Chapter IV

Chapter IV

It takes three days before Toph decides to visit Zuko one night, down below in the belly of the ship. He spent a majority of those three days hanging around Toph, even following her into Aang's room.

He still isn't sure if he likes these people. He is trying to, for this damn curse's sake, and Toph really isn't that bad – she's like the little sister he never had, since Azula is a royal bitch, to put it mildly – but he doesn't know how he feels about the rest. Sokka is… kooky, and Katara is better than he had originally thought, and the adults of the ship are as indifferent as that lemur, Momo.

Whose speech, oddly enough, Zuko can understand when he is in his cat form. The little lemur apparently doesn't care that 'Patches' is Zuko, and is thankful that he rescued Appa for everyone.

Anyway.

Toph comes tapping slowly down the steps leading to the haul, since blind or not, going down stairs in the middle of the night in pitch-black darkness is difficult. "Patchy? Can you give me a little sound or something? I'm getting too many vibrations at once with the waves right outside."

Zuko frowns. He is seconds from becoming a cat, so should he just wait and answer her as a part-human?

"Please, Kitty? Just a little meow? I might be a metalbender, but it _is_ harder to see when I'm walking on it all the time."

Sighing a small sigh, Zuko lets out a lengthy mewl. Toph, in his feline nightvision, smiles minutely as she dashes across the floor to where he's seated. She plops down in front of him, and feels through the air until she bumps her knuckles against his chest.

"There you are," she says. A frown forms on her brows. "Why are you down here, anyway? It's colder here, and moister. I don't see the appeal, no offense."

He snorts, but the sound is cut short as a wave of warning comes over him. His ears flatten and his tail wraps around his back leg as he inches away from Toph, awaiting his transformation. After a approximately a month like this (it's difficult to determine time when his days blend together), he has grown habituated to sensing when the moon is beginning to rise.

The first tremors shake him, and in seconds, he's lying on the chilly metal in his bare skin. His feline ears twitch, and his vision starts dimming as he loses his cat-sight.

"Patches…?" Toph questions, her voice not doing well in hiding her shocked, guarded tone. "Are my feet deceiving me again, or did your form just shift?"

"It did," Zuko says, his own voice startling him a bit; he hasn't been able to hear it much, and when he does, he hasn't had anybody to talk to. He sighs as he gathers up his clothes and puts them on.

The earthbender raises her hands as if in surrender. "Okay, I give up. This world is way too trippy for me. Are you some kind of cat-human hybrid or something? One minute, you're our furry house-pet, Patches, and the next, you're… some guy. A human guy. What the hell? How come everybody seems to know more about the hocus-pocus of this world than I do? I mean, Aang used to go on and on about Spirit World this and past lives that, and a bunch of other cosmic mumbo-jumbo that I don't understand whatsoever. So, what now? Is this another bizarre-o thing like that?"

Zuko laughs weakly. "You could say that," he says. "See, I don't know what the Avatar has mentioned to you, but apparently, the spirits of the Spirit World watch over us, and some of them like casting spells on us humans 'for our own good,' or for some kind of screwed-up lesson. Mine is this: I have to be a cat every day until the moon rises at night until my heart softens or something. This spirit girl, Yue, says that I have a cold heart. Or something. She wants me to learn to love or some shit. And so here I am, stuck on this boat with a bunch of people I used to hate, and I've become their pet. It's 'trippy,' as you'd say. But what the hell am I supposed to do? Yue showed me what my life was going to be like if I hadn't chosen this, and let me tell you, it was fucking _awful._ So… there you have it. A long rant out of frustration and the need to talk since I can't a majority of the time."

The young earthbender whistles, as if impressed. "How. Somebody has a temper. Like, is it just me, or did it get warmer down here?" She pauses. "You're not a firebender, are you?"

"Actually," Zuko mutters hotly, "I am. Remember how I said that, 'I'm stuck on a boat with people I used to hate?' Well… ever been told about a firebender named Zuko?"

Toph barks a laugh. "Yeah, I heard about him all right. Snoozles and Sugar Queen _love_ to complain about their bad experiences with some banished prince from the Fire Nation who is constantly chasing after Aang for his honor."

"Yeah. Well. He's me." He can feel the tension building, and hear rustling clothing as Toph leans away. "I'm Zuko."

Toph doesn't say anything at first. She cocks her head in the darkness, and studies the figure her earthbending-sight is producing in her mind. She can make out a tail and ears and a muscular frame with shaggy hair and a blank face, with the exception of the outline of a nose. He's posed defensively in his posture, as if he expects her to lean forward and pin him with metal to the wall, as a prisoner. But she doesn't feel hostile towards him; after all, she doesn't have any beef with him. She's never technically met him before. How bad can he be, anyhow? He's nice enough as a cat, even if he's never purred.

She grins suddenly. "Then I guess I better say, 'Nice to meet you, Prince Zuko,' or something like that." She holds out her hand for a shake.

Surprised but grateful, Zuko shakes her hands. "Thanks. It's nice to officially meet you, too, I guess." As he releases her hand, he feels different inside, as if a small weight has been lifted now that he has an ally. "But you better not mention this to anybody. If your friends knew that I was n their ship with them –"

She ignores his dark, threatening tone. "Relax, will you? I'm not dumb; I know that Queenie would go bat-shit crazy, and Snoozled would probably leave you for dead in the middle of the ocean. And, honestly, I don't like the idea of losing my pet kitty. So believe me, I'll keep your secret. You can rust me. And I can even help you out from time to time, if need be."

For once, Zuko feels a genuine smile lift the corners of his mouth. "Thank you, Toph," he utters in a lower tone, since he isn't accustomed to saying those words.

"Don't sweat it," she replies with earnest.

She stands up, and in the dark, motions for him to do the same. Zuko barely catches the action, but catches her meaning anyhow. He joins her on his feet, which lands him a good head and a half taller than her. She peers up at him through her bangs, her sightless eyes catching in the crack of moonlight spilling in from the vent somewhere behind Zuko.

"Let me get a good look at you," the Bei Fong heiress states casually. She reaches up and fumbles in the air until Zuko steps closer and allows her to touch his face. She lifts up on the balls of her feet to skim the fuzzy, pointed shape of Zuko's ears, which have replaced his human ones since the spell was first cast. She chuckles as his ears twitch when she hits the wrong spot, and flatten in annoyance. She then scans his face and neck with her hands. She spins Zuko around by the shoulders, her hands tracing his spine until she comes across the torn hole in his trousers that allows his extended tailbone to stick out, his familiarly fluffy, black tail swishing out of her reach. She tugs on it, and he growls.

"Don't; that hurts!" he snaps over his shoulder, and she chuckles again.

"Wow," Toph concludes as she spins him around again. "You really are under a curse, eh, Patches?"

"Don't call me by that pet-name," he grumbles in complaint. "It's demeaning. Do you even have any idea how I got that scar? It's not a pretty story."

Toph's face falls. "I bet not. I would joke that you burned yourself while trying to learn firebending, but I know that that's a lie. Firebenders can't be hurt by their own flames, but they can be by others; the same is true for any bender."

"Yeah, well," Zuko mutters around a comb through his hair with his hand, a habit he has when he's stressed, "You're right there. I didn't do it myself, but I might as well have. It was my fault."

"If someone else hurts you, it's never your fault," Toph corrects sternly. She punches him in the arm. "Got that? Don't go blaming yourself over things. It has never done anybody any good. Just don't think about it, like me."

"No wonder you're so cocky all the time," Zuko retorts, half-sarcastically.

They spend the remainder of the night talking, witty, half-insulting comments being sent back and forth, around a couple childhood stories. Toph talks about her parents, and her secret earthbending matches, and how she learned how to see with her feet from the badgermoles. Zuko, on the other hand, talks about his uncle, and his regret of having to leave him to be something as pathetic as a cat, and his experience in the Spirit World.

After mentioning Yue again, something clicks in Toph's mind. "Wait a second. Yue, you said her name was? And she's the moon spirit?"

Zuko nods. "Yeah."

"I know that name!" Toph says around a yawn. "Sokka… has mentioned her before." She finishes yawning and rubs one eye. "Something about not being able to protect her, and being in love with her. So you met her, and got to talk to her? _That_ would make Snoozles jealous," she smirks, but another yawn engulfs her words. "Oh boy. It must be getting late, 'cause I'm about to pass out."

"Then go up to bed. I'll be fine."

Toph hits him. "I can't just leave you alone down here, stupid! It was different when I thought you were just a cat: cats like to be alone and hide out sometimes. But you're a person, and people shouldn't be isolated, firebender or not. I'm staying."

"But –"

"Ah-ah," Toph tsks, "No use arguing with me, buddy-boy. I'm one stubborn boulder."

He sighs in defeat, and his sigh turns into a yawn of his own. "Whatever. I'm too tired to bother, anyway. Let's just get some sleep. There are a few sacks of rice over in the corner that I usually sleep on."

"Hmm, no wonder my lunches sometimes have cat hair in them," Toph jokes, clearly not telling the truth.

"Oh, shut up," Zuko grunts as he shuffles over to the bags of grain and lays upon them. Toph comes up right behind him and snuggles against his warmth. He protests with a half-hearted shove behind him, but Toph tells him to let her or else she'll tell the others about him, and with a groan, he complies.

And just like that, he made a friend he never thought he'd have. But a lot of things have gone topsy-turvy for Zuko since Ba Sing Se, so he barely lingers on the prospect of having a friendship with the young earthbender before he slips into sleep.


	5. Chapter V

**A/N: Okay, so, we're beginning to get into the episodes of season three. This one is only the first couple parts of 'The Awakening,' and the next chapter will be the rest of it, plus 'The Headband.' Basically, I'm re-writing the third season with Kitty!Zuko replacing Human!Zuko. Should be fun, ne?**

**Also: anyone else notice that i end a lot of chapters with sleeping? But then again, cats do sleep a lot. And as for Aang... well, he was pretty much in a coma for a while. So yeah. D;  
**

* * *

Chapter V

It became routine over the next couple months, having Toph there for him. She treated him less like the pet she used to think he was and more like the person he truly is. And it came in handy, like when he needed his clothes washed but didn't want to risk doing it himself, or when he was hungry or, daresay, lonely.

Because Zuko has always been a lonely person, ever since the only person who took the time to be with him up and vanished one horrible night. He misses her so much sometimes… _Mother._

_It isn't so bad here, though,_ Zuko concludes one sunny afternoon. He dislikes the constant of ship-on-water, an endless drone that he has had to deal with in his life longer than he would like to admit (mostly during his search for the Avatar). Except he does like the feeling of not having to worry about being persecuted for his actions, or the things that fall from his lips when he's angry. Now he can simply do as he please and it will be passed off as him being a stubborn teenage cat, and he speaks so infrequently that it doesn't matter what he says.

Still, he can't say that his time on a ship full of previous-enemies hasn't taken a toll on what had developed as his personality; he's gone soft, and to an extent, Zuko _despises _that fact. Princes should not be soft, nor should they be cruel, but Zuko has never been able to find a happy medium of the two. To rule by love or fear? – An age-old question that, apparently, his grandfathers and father and sister have answered immediately with, 'fear.'

Sighing to himself as he rolls over to sunbathe the other half of his darkly-colored body – a merge between charcoal black and an odd brown – Zuko peers out over the horizon – which is teeming with storm clouds on the way – and wonders just what, exactly, is a lingering change from his so-called 'metamorphosis' and what has changed due to being adored for the cat he's become. But Zuko runs out of answers before thoughts can even initiate a process, and he gives up altogether.

Toph strolls by and scoops him up off the edge he had been perched on. A deafening shriek emits from his fanged mouth, because, _Mother of Agni,_ if she hadn't been more careful, he could have wound up in the water!

"Oh, chill out, Patchy," the Bei Fong heiress teases as she cradles his small body in her arms, "I would never let you fall. Besides, I want to go visit Aang again, and I don't want to do it alone."

As they walk down the corridors to the comatose patient's room, Zuko leaps from Toph's arms and walks ahead of her. He's come to know the entire ship by heart, each bedchamber and hallway and staircase and ladder (even though he can't climb the ladders, seeing as how you need opposable thumbs for such a feat).

"He's been talking in his sleep here and there," the preteen girl says quietly as they open the door into Aang's room. "I think he might wake up soon."

There is a sort of out-of-place note in her tone; something far more caring than Zuko thought Toph capable of expressing, since her demeanor is normally so unbeatable and unshakable, as sturdy as the stones she bends. But, then again, the fact that stones _can _he bent only proves that Toph is merely human.

Zuko gives a little nod and a curt mew, indicating that he, too, thinks that sleep-talking is a sign of semi-consciousness.

"Wouldn't it be great if he woke up today, or this week?" Toph half-jokes as she sits on the edge of the airbender's bed. A hint of sadness takes away from the teasing in the comment. "We've all been so worried about him, Zuko," she tells the cat lowly, so not to be heard using his real name. "I know you must not care much about him, given your past reasons for coming after him, but you have to understand that he's like family to the rest of us. We're a pretty tight-knit group, y'know? We rely on each other, which, according to your uncle, is something you're not very good at."

They've talked some nights when Toph wasn't so tired, and she told him the tale about how she met his uncle, and how the wise old man had given her tea and a chunk of said wisdom. But she didn't mention how much his uncle seemed to love him through his words, because she knew that Zuko probably wouldn't like hearing it in his current state. Maybe later.

Zuko's ears droop, and he shakes his little head. 'That's not true,' he meows a tad mournfully. 'Not anymore. I feel bad about what happened to him.'

Toph snorts a laugh, if only to refrain from letting a few tears escape. "Don't make noises like that, Patchy. You know I don't speak '_cat_enese.'" Boy, has she been hanging around Sokka far too much; she's beginning to use puns.

Meanwhile, Zuko turns away from her to look at Aang's sleeping face, blank and open like the pages of an unmarked journal. He yawns out of the blue, and Toph takes it as her cue to leave.

"I know you're due for a catnap," she mocks as she stands. She cracks her knuckles and turns on her heel. "I just wanted to bring you in here so that you know that Aang isn't some prize or spiritual being or whatever. He's our friend. And maybe yours, too, someday."

The ex-prince contemplated this as he squished down the mattress of the cot with his paws and snuggled into a roll of fabric beside the younger boy's ribs. He could hear the boy breathing, and somehow, it gave him peace. Knowing that the boy next to him is alive is enough to ease at least some of the guilt.

And with that, Zuko closed his eyes…

…Only to have them reopen moments later as a hitch in Aang's breath shocked Zuko into awareness, and he felt the boy stiffen and slowly, groggily, push himself up into a sitting position with a rough groan of pain. His bandages scrunched in the wrong way, seeming to nearly pinch the aribender's skin.

Zuko blinked a couple times, astounded, because hadn't Toph _just _said that it would be great if Aang woke up today?

The not quite full-grown cat leaps onto Aang's lap and stares up at him, inspecting his bleary grey eyes. Is he truly awake, or sleepwalking? – But no, he must be awake, because he's staring straight back, and blinking thoughtfully.

"A cat?" Aang says, his voice hoarse from misuse and thirst. He coughs, and then glances around quickly before looking back down at his lap. "Where am I, Kitty? What happened?" He looks behind himself, and a gasp chokes his words as he spots the neglected-to-be-torn-down Fire Nation emblem on the tapestry above the bed. "Oh no!" Aang shouts, and throws himself off of the bed, only to stumble and trip over his weak legs and spinning head.

Incongruously concerned, Zuko follows suit and knocks Aang's glider-staff over with his tail, showing the boy that he can use it as a crutch. He rolls it towards the Avatar with his nose. "Thanks, Kitty. You're a clever one. But I have to find out what happened, because my gut fears that I've been captured. And by Zuko and his sister, no doubt."

'You've got it all wrong,' Zuko meows, but Aang is already in a panic, racing down the corridor (or at least attempting to) towards the bow of the ship. He bursts into a sweat as he airbends weakly at who he thinks are Fire Nation guards (when in fact it's Pipsqueak and The Duke) out of the entrance hole. He trips and falls, looking above to find the storm starting to crowd overhead, darkening the sky. Zuko runs out between the boy's feet, just in time to stop him from tripping again as he wobbles to his feet. Aang sags on his staff, questions in his eyes. _He must be terrified,_ Zuko thinks with the slightest bit of empathy.

Through the metal, Toph feels the vibrations. "Twinkle Toes? – That's just gotta be you!"

"Aang!" someone else calls, and it takes the boy a moment to lift his head to find Katara, her blue dress covered by a Fire Nation cloak. "You're finally awake!"

"Am I?" Aang rasps as he rubs his at his eyes. "I feel like I'm still dreaming." Beside his ankles, Zuko can understand his confusion; the last thing the boy must remember is the Earth Kingdom, and suddenly he's on a firebender's warship. It would confuse anybody.

"You're not. You're just fine, now," Katara smiles, and gives him a small, friendly hug.

"Aang; good to see you back among the living, buddy," an echoing voice chimes next, clad in all soldier garb. Zuko snorts; of all the times for the non-bender to dress that way…

"Sokka?" the poor arrowhead murmurs hazily. He sways on his feet, and Zuko lets out a meow that sounds like a warning.

"Uh-oh, somebody catch him!" Toph calls out. "He's gonna –"

But it's too late. Aang faints, and Zuko narrowly jumps out of the way.

Everybody crowds him, including the curious kitty. He peers between people's shoulders and feet (depending on their position) as the boy slowly comes to. Everybody backs away, save for Katara. Aang starts asking questions – why, why, why – and she gives the answers.

We had to get you to safety after Ba Sing Se fell. We captured one of the naval forces with Dad's help. You were comatose for a few weeks (_even though it as at least a month and a half, _Zuko shakes his head. Katara shouldn't fib like that to protect the poor boy). And so on, about their location and such until, finally, Aang asks why there's a cat on board. Katara laughs at that one.

"We just found him one day. We named him Patches because of that patch of missing fur. We think he had an owner with a bad temper, because he was pretty rowdy at first. He mellowed out, though, once he got used to us." She leans over to pet the cursed prince, and he squints one eye closed and lowers his ears in annoyance, but allows it.

Hakota comes over to check on them and introduce himself officially, although Katara seems a little angry with him. Zuko knows that the man is her father, and he understands better than anyone how, sometimes, you can get angry with your parents for whatever reason.

Aang grunts in pain, and Katara offers to take him upstairs for more healing, now that he's awake and able to direct her to the problematic areas. Zuko tags along behind them, and chooses to watch by sitting on the floor near the floor mat.

"Tell me where your pain is most intense," Katara says calmly as she runs watery, glowing hands along his spine.

As she reaches the center of the scar, Aang jerks back and howls in pain, and the way his pupils dilate inform Zuko that he's seeing something.

"Whoa… I didn't just get hurt, did I? I was… I was gone, but then… then, you brought me back."

Zuko freezes in place, his limbs feeling as immobile and heavy as lead. He knew that Aang had been wounded severely – enough to knock him out for an extended period of time – but he had no idea that, for a millisecond, Aang had _died._

A chill runs up Zuko's spine, causing his fur to stand on end. His ears lower, and he creeps closer to Aang, because he boy shouldn't have been struck that hard. It had been a mistake; all of it. And even though Zuko hates admitting that he was wrong, and hates knowing he is at fault for some of this, he at least acknowledges this time that things should have been different; he should have _chosen _differently. Not about being a cat; but beforehand, when Azula found him and Iroh.

Katara glances at the floor. "All I did was use the water from the Spirit Oasis," she mutters quietly. "I don't know what I did, exactly."

Aang stares at her a moment. "You… saved me," he says, and she simply smiles and tells him to rest, but as she leaves, the boy turns to the only other being left in the room: the cat sitting beside the floor mat. "So… Patches, was it? Do you mind keeping me company? I don't feel like sleeping again. I'm afraid that it will be another immeasurable amount of weeks until I wake up again."

Zuko isn't sure why, but he decides to fulfill Aang's request. He hops up onto the mat and steps cautiously over towards Aang. A prize, Toph had called him, most likely using Sokka's or Katara's words for what they thought Zuko saw the Avatar as. But he doesn't, not any longer.

"You're friendly," Aang smiles softly. He extends his hand, and rubs his palm between Zuko's ears. A wince comes shortly afterward, but the arrowhead ignores it and continues to pet Zuko behind the ears and under his chin. Without meaning to, Zuko lets out a short purr. He cuts the sound off as soon as he hears it, but it isn't in time to stop Aang from emitting the smallest of chuckles. "Ouch; laughing isn't a good idea. But, hey, you seem to like me, huh?"

Zuko turns his head and stats licking his wrist (a stupid cat habit for embarrassment that he's picked up in place of running his hand through his hair). It's as if to say, 'No, I don't like you. Don't get the wrong idea just because a purr accidentally slipped out.'

"Okay, okay, so maybe you don't like me. But I'm warning you now: all animals love me. So you'll love me some day, too," Aang grins minutely. His hand is shaking as he reaches out to pet Zuko again.

As much as the firebender would love to play the part of a skittish kitty and dart out the door, he finds it much easier to simple lay down and pretend to sleep. He doesn't care, really, if he's pet some more, eve if it is the Avatar doing it. Still, he almost wishes the boy would go to sleep; it was quite effortless to be around the airbender when he was unconscious.

"You're not very nice after all, are you, Kitty?" Aang teases around what could be a yawn. Zuko can't tell; his eyes aren't open. "That, or you just don't care." He pauses, thinking. "Hmm. I wish I didn't have cares, either. Life gets too complicated when you care. But the monks told me once that it is better to accept life than shun it. I guess that philosophy doesn't apply to animals." He sounds practically amused, but in the same token, a tad bummed, as if he wish he were an animal just to forget his cares for a while.

The younger teen scratches absentmindedly along Zuko's spine, and twirls his tail around his fingers for a bit. His eyelids droop. Another yawn escapes, this time clearly one. "Mm. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to rest, like Katara said," he mumbles. He leans into the mat, inch by inch, until his body is lying firmly upon it. He cringes a crew times until he finds a comfortable positon.

Zuko remembers the raw, stringing pain of a fresh burn all too well. Face, back… he isn't sure which would hurt more. Not that he's competing or anything; he just isn't sure if he can identify with such intense pain or not. Probably not; if it had been enough to temporarily kill him, then Aang must have it worse. Far worse.

Feeling pity, the ex-prince crawls over to Aang's side, and curls up against the warmth. He feels the boy's lungs inflate and deflate against his spine, and it rocks the cat almost to sleep. Being a cat sure is drowsy; he wonders if recovering is the same way.

"Goodnight, Patches," Aang whispers as he closes his eyes. "Wake me up later so that I don't sleep too long."

Silently, Zuko promises to.


	6. Chapter VI

**A/N: I lied. XD**

**This is only the rest of 'The Awakening,' with none of 'The Headband.' I decided that this was enough by itself, for now. But from now on, I'll try to keep it to one episode per chapter, save for the two-parter episodes and whatnot, since those need more than one chapter, obviously. D;  
**

* * *

Chapter VI

Zuko emerges onto the deck of the ship to find things going horribly awry. Why had he stayed down below so long? He had woken up Aang like he promised (by rudely putting all his weight – which isn't much – on the boy's chest and pawing at his face), but then not much had happened afterward. At least, he hadn't thought so. But apparently he hadn't been in the right place at the right time.

He comes on the deck to find another ship, going the opposite way, snaking up alongside their boat to board it and talk with their head crewmen. Which would be all fine and good, had this been Zuko's ship, and had Zuko still be human and the prince. But neither is true nor possible, so things could get messy.

…And they do.

The tiny feline visibly blanches with distaste, because as respectable as Chief Hakota is as a person, he doesn't know the ways of the Fire Nation as well as he thinks, which turns the situation into something hideous mighty fast. All because of a misunderstanding, no less.

Before it gets worse (Toph hears the captain mutter something), the benders and other warriors retaliate and rush off, but Zuko knows that this will still somehow manage to get back to the Mainlands. It always does. How else did Zhao keep finding him, and in turn, the Avatar?

Speaking of whom, Zuko glances sideways at Aang, who seems rather ticked off at the fact that he can't do anything. He even said befre the talk began that he hates not being able to help. At first, Zuko thought that this was just Aang feeling obliged, since he's the Avatar; but no, as he strolls over now to see what Aang is thinking, he knows for sure that the boy is genuinely the aggressive-when-need-be type that thinks sitting out while others do the fighting for and without you is deplorable.

…And here is where things get _truly _messy.

"I can't just sit by and do _nothing!_" Aang growls, and Zuko mewls loudly to Sokka to run after the airbender, who is storming off onto the fog-hidden ship.

"Aang, no!" He catches the monk by his glider-staff. "You're still hurt, and you need to stay secret. Just let us handle this one," he forcefully tells the boy.

"Fine." Aang grumbles, and snatches the staff back. He marches off, but Zuko knows better than to believe him to be actually okay with things. So he follows along behind the boy, as silent as a shadow.

The battle rages for a short while longer, and Sokka makes a quick remark about thins not being able to get much worse.

Naturally, as soon as he says this, things do. And it's just lovely, Zuko thinks sarcastically as he casts his gaze away from Aang long enough to hear with his keen feline senses, "The universe just love proving me wrong, doesn't it?" come from Sokka's throat.

He turned just in time to see a large serpant of some kind with beady red eyes as glassy as marbles and tough green skin as leathery as a dragon's.

If he were human, he would've screamed. Not girly, of course, but in that yelling way that men do when they are scared shitless. And at the moment, Zuko was indeed 'scared shitless.' He could feel his fur rise as if with the electricity from lightning.

Luckily for them, though, the ship of firebenders tailing them shot at the slithery water-beast, angering it, which cause the giant snake to attack the other ship instead. Free of both burdens, the good guys sail on, and Zuko breathes a sigh of relief.

xXxXx

They make port at a location that Zuko isn't very familiar with. The others leave into town for supplies, but before they do, Katara, Toph and Sokka stop by Aang's room. Zuko knows this because he has been keeping tabs on Aang ever since the navy-and-sea-monster incident earlier that day.

Zuko is curled up next to Aang's waist, watchful of any movement. The boy is lying on his back – which Zuko thinks can't be very comfortable, given the scar in the center, but then again, it must be better than stretching it by rolling onto his side. He has his hands up under his head, atop his pillow, and seems to be staring at the lingering water droplets on the vent in the ceiling.

"Hey, Aang," Toph greets. "We're going into town to get some dinner."

The boy sits up, and Zuko peeks an eye open to study the four humans in the room. He can hear Aang's stomach growl.

"Well… I am pretty hungry. Dinner sounds like a good idea," he says meekly.

But Sokka makes a wrong move. He offers part of the sash around his soldier uniform, telling Aang to cover his arrow in order to remain hidden.

The boy scowls. "I'm not going out if I can't wear my arrow proudly," he huffs, and honestly, Zuko has never seen the Avatar so stubborn. He had no idea that Aang could act this way; every time he has seen the boy, he was either smiling or fighting without malevolence, and always afraid or unsure or cautious. Never sulky. Never prideful.

Sulky and prideful are some of Zuko's qualities. The cat stares at the boy as he flops back down onto the cot, his back turned on his friends. It's almost as if… he thinks that he's lost his honor, too. Just like Zuko had. Has. Probably always will…

They others leave, and Katara stays. Aang is mindlessly tapping his fingers in front of Zuko, trying to get the cat to play with them. But Zuko wants to hear what Katara has to say.

"I think I know why being a secret bothers you so much," she says with compassion and understanding, like a little mother-pighen. Zuko nearly smiles when he thinks back to that far of pig-animals in the Earth Kingdom, where he met young Lee. "You don't want people to think you failed."

Failure. Zuko knows that word like the back of his hand – or paw. It's a word he can still associate with himself, because, after all, he's here and not at home. In a way, the Avatar has him captive instead of the other way around. The ex-prince can't leave. Not like this. Not as a pussy-cat.

"You're right; I don't. But the problem is, I _did_ fail," Aang spits back, and Zuko's muscles tense beneath his fur. "And don't tell me it's not true, because it _is_ true. I was in Ba Sing Se, I was _there,_ but I lost. And now the Earth Kingdom has fallen for good. And it's all my fault. Because I let them down. _Again._"

_'Again?'_ Zuko wonders. Except, after a moment, he comprehends the content of the word: Aang means when he left the world for one hundred years, doing what or being where, Zuko has no idea.

"Not for good!" Katara reminds him, as if to cheer him up. Zuko can see the way she places a smile on her face, like clay slapped onto a crack to mend pottery. "There's a plan, remember? We still have the invasion during the eclipse, and –"

And invasion during an eclipse? Azula mentioned that to her brother, before his Spirit World journey. She mentioned that she heard it from the Earth King, when he thought he was speaking to the Kyoshi warriors. It's brilliant, really; it's the perfect opportunity to fight firebenders: when they have no firepower. Just like the siege of the North, only in reverse.

"And I hate the invasion plan, too!" Aang suddenly bursts out, cutting off both Katara's words and Zuko's thoughts. Zuko jumps up, startled, and stands motionless on the bed, staring intently at the boy now. Such anger, such pain and frustration… Zuko can definitely identify with this. The funny thing is, he didn't know that the cheerful airbender was capable of such emotions. The only time he's seen it was when… well, when Aang wasn't himself. When he was in the Avatar State, which is essentially everybody else besides the nearly thirteen-year-old boy.

Aang tears down the tapestry above the bed, and his voice rises to almost breaking levels.

I don't want you ro anybody else to get hurt while trying to fix my mistakes!" His voice becomes low, dark. "I've always known that I would have to ace the Fire Lord… but now I know that I have to do it alone."

Katara is frozen, and Zuko is half tempted to leap off the bed and rub his face against Aang's ankles to calm the younger boy down. But Zuko resists, because the temptation is a fleeting one, and far too affectionate for his tastes. He doesn't like the Avatar like that, like a friend; he is merely watching over him, like he always has tried to do, whether it be for the boy's own good or not.

Katara makes a move to comfort him, though, much like Zuko had felt seconds ago. But Aang verbally pushes her away, telling her to go. And then, just like that, things only confirm Zuko's thoughts as Katara asks if Aang needs anything, and he replies, "I need to redeem myself. I need to get my honor back."

_Honor, huh?_ Zuko thinks with a dry, bitter smile on his lips. _I know how you feel, Avatar. Who would ever think that we would be in the same boat, literally and figuratively?_

xXxXx

He hadn't been able to stop him.

In his stupid, weak, frail cat-body, Zuko hadn't been able to stop Aang before Aang disappeared into the stormy night, all by himself.

When Katara comes into the room with food, Zuko hurriedly paws, claws accidentally out in his panic, against the door, and onto her legs. He barks out his meows, getting her attention as he leaps onto the bed and around the room to show her that Aang isn't here, that he left, and trapped Zuko inside.

_"No, Kitty, you can't come with me; I have to do this on my own. I'm sorry, but I have to. I can't let anyone get in the way."_

When he had said that, Zuko had bit him out of rebellion and disappointment and by means of trying to get the boy to stay, if only to bandage the minuscule wound. But no. The airbender had left, taking his glider with him, right off of the ship. Zuko knows, because as he's running out onto the deck with Katara, he can vaguely see a figure in the far, far distance, out of range with the un-keen sight of humans, but just barely within range of his feline eyes.

And as Katara and the others frantically scurry about and worry over the boy, her father tryng to calm her down, Zuko waits. He perches himself on the tip – not too close, so not to get thrown off by the rocking of the ship on the waves – and he waits. He watches and waits, because he knows that Aang can't run forever. He never has been able to, and he can't start now.

xXxXx

Aang soars over the stormy sea, the clouds hissing rain in his face, cold and bracing and awakening. He squints his eyes and presses on, as much as the violent wind will take him. It suits his mood; sunshine and calm seas would not suit him at all at a time like this.

But the elements, sometimes, can be too much, even for a bender. He falls, the ache form his sides and spine too great. He gets back up, onto to find a blockade not very far ahead. He dives under, and pants as he spots a floating log and an idea comes to mind. He floats on the wood, like a skilled surfer, his glider like a sail.

But he can't go on forever. He can't run away from his problems, because as determined as he is, this isn't the correct manner to go about solving them. Aang knows this in the back of his mind.

He crashes, a wave breaking his glider and whisking it away. He reaches out feebly for it, although the current is too strong; it's gone. Aang is left with nothing, now. Just a log to keep him afloat.

He shivers against the cold wood and wishes for something, anything. It's nearly summer, almost time for the eclipse and the comet… but he feels so cold. The sea is not kind as it throws him over and almost drowns him.

"I'm not going to make it," he murmurs to himself, his head hanging low. "I've failed."

"You haven't failed, Aang," a low, calm voice says above him, and he looks up to find a familiar, ghostly face.

"Roku?" he says, straining to see through the rain. He shakes his head and glances away. "Everybody thinks I'm dead again, Sokka even said so. They probably all think that I've abandoned them like I did before." His heart is heavy with remorse. He sighs. "I'm losing this war. I'm letting the whole world down."

"You are not to blame for the state of the world," Roku reminds him gently. "It's me. I should have seen this war coming, and prevented it." His eyes, too, hold deep remorse carved into his very soul. "I'm sorry, Aang: you inherited my problems, and my mistakes. But I do believe that you are destined to redeem me, and save the world."

Aang folds in on himself, his arms tired from hanging on. "I don't know."

He wants to let go. He wants to let the storm claim him, swallow him whole. But if only because of Roku's words does he want to try – at least _try!_ – to live up to those expectations.

A beam of light shines down suddenly, and Aang looks up to find a floating, sweet-face figure cloaked in white. Yue. The clouds part enough to show the moon, and calm the sea within the light below it. "You've already saved the world," she says to cheer up him. "And you'll save the world again! But you can't give up." The rain ceases, and she floats lower, to the water's surface. Aang stares in awe, not quite believing her words yet, but wanting to listen. Wanting to believe. "You can't, because you have people waiting for you. Your friends are waiting. And somebody else, too. Somebody who needs you more than they realize, and more than you can know before the time is right. So return to them, Aang. Return to your friends and the rest of the world, and face your doubts. They are misplaced, because you have nothing to blame yourself for." And she smiles, and with that, disappears.

"You're right," he says, "I can't give up. Not now."

And he bends the water around him, propelling him onward. He can make it after all. It might feel like a lie, but he hasn't failed. Not just yet.

xXxXx

Zuko huddles alone in the cargo section of the ship, his knees bent by his chest, his forearms resting atop them with his chin grazing the hairs on his arm. The moon is up, and he's human. For now.

He punches with a short burst of flame onto the metal wall. He hates being a dumb animal during the day. While it makes for a fantastic disguise and allows him to have a place among the Avatar's gang, it subtracts from his abilities, like the one that makes him strong and big enough to stop Aang from running away.

Toph comes down the stairs, and calls out his name softly. "Zuko, are you down here? I think I see you, but with the vibrations from the storm rattling the ship, I can't tell."

"Yeah, I'm here," he sighs. Toph comes over and sits beside him, leaning slightly against him with her elbow on his knees as he leans back and uses his hands to support his weight. "It's weird, Toph, but I'm a little worried for him. He could drown."

"Don't worry about Twinkle Toes," she says curtly, but with the way her voice tightens, Zuko can tell that her throat is closing with even more worry than he possesses. "He's a waterbender as well, remember? He can't drown."

This is only something she tells herself to keep from getting upset, though; Zuko can pick up that in her tone, too.

He scratches at his arms, itchy with nerves. "I hope you're right."

"We'll find him. Or he'll find us. That's how it always works," she also says, her voice stony. Toph hugs herself a little. A small smile touches her mouth on one side. "He just likes to pout, that's all."

"I hope you're right," Zuko repeats, and then lets Toph lean fully on him, because he knows that she needs the comfort. And, somewhere deep inside, he needs the comfort, too.

xXxXx

Come morning, Aang is awoken by a warm, licking tongue and a miniscule amount of pressure on his chest, paired with teeny tugs on his clothes. His grey eyes flutter open to find Momo atop him, and Patches pulling at his robes beside him.

They found him when the storm cleared and after the moon faded from the sky, the beginnings of dawn brightening the horizon. They rode on Appa, all of them: Sokka, Toph, Katara, Momo… and Zuko. He had insisted on coming along. He told Toph the night before that he wanted to go with them if they decided to search for the lost airbender. Lost, as well as the last. Funny how that worked out.

The six – animals included – embrace the short, broken boy. And he clings to them all, because his heart finally remembers that he isn't alone, nor does he have to handle things on his own.

And it's enough. It's enough, it's _plenty,_ just knowing that he has others who care about him. Who'll wait for him. Who _love_ him.

But Zuko doesn't feel in place among these people. With Toph, yes, and somewhat with Katara (when she's around, anyhow), but Aang and Sokka and the other two pets? He doesn't know. But he does know that he has to be here, because, really, where else should he be?

'Home' isn't home anymore. Now, home is right _here_, with these six.


	7. Chapter VII

**A/N: Long author's note is long. And so is this chapter.  
**

**So here it is, chapter seven, and, as I said above, it happens to be a long one (as compared to the other chapters). It's all 'The Headband,' too; but please bear with me, because i had to stray quite a bit from the real episode, and i kind of went of a little tangents with Zuko's thinking, since, hey, he is a cat and all cats can really d is think, those lazy bastards. Lulz. I joke; I love cats. Obviously. But yeah... up next, if you haven't already guessed, is 'The Painted Lady.' Now that should be interesting, considering that fact that half of the episode occurs at night. Oh, Zuko. Be careful with that, hahaha~ ;D (and jeez, just wait 'til I make it up to 'The Puppetmaster'! Then Zuko will rally be in trouble, since almost the entire episode occurs at night, and during a full moon no less!).  
**

**Also, for the record: in this beginning part, Toph calls Zuko a "cuddly little kitten." But, as I must remind you, Zuko is technically a teenage cat in cat years, which makes him nearly full-grown in size. I've only been referring to him as "small" because he's small in comparison to the humans, and of course compared to Appa. He's about Momo's size, except taller when on all fours. He's big enough to fill Aang's lap, anyway. (oops, i just gave away a scene for the next chapter. whoops~! ;P )  
**

* * *

Chapter VII

_"I know your group better than you think," Zuko had said after a few moments of silence. Toph lifted her head, and waited to hear more. "I know that you guys won't stay on this ship for long, and definitely not until the invasion. He might have run off, but Aang will be back. And when he is, your group will soon separate from Hakota and everybody else. It's not things go: you have the Avatar, so you keep things discreet by staying in a smaller group. It's safer. And if you're captured for some reason, it's easier to escape in small numbers than in big ones. So it's a matter of time, I suppose," he sighed. He knew but did not like the inevitable. It caused problems. _

_"Then what do you want to do, when that time comes?" Toph questioned, her tone dead serious. No sarcasm this time. She knew better._

_He turned to look at her, even if she couldn't read his facial expression. She tried, though. She brought a hand up and let her bringer skim the surface of his face, feeling his concentrated brows and hard, thin line for a mouth. His lips buzzed as he spoke. "I want to come with you. I don't know how I'll hide when we're on the bison, so I might have to expose my secret far before I'm ready to – or they are ready to, for that matter – but I have to be with the Avatar's group. Remember? Yue said I did." He never told her why, but she figured that he had his reasons. She trusted him._

_"Oh, silly Princey," Toph sarcastically cooed and she slung her arm over his shoulder and brought his head into a headlock before he could react. She ground her fist against the top of his head, giving him a less-painful-that-it-could-be noogie. His ears twitched in annoyance, then flattened angrily as he growled in protest. This only encouraged Toph. She smirked, "Didn't I tell you that I would help you keep your secret? I know that to do to hide you. 'Cause I don't want them to find out and then force you out of the group; I like having you around." She released him, and he rubbed his head to smooth his hair. She hadn't hurt him, but he hated being man-handled. "So don't fret, Princey. I'll keep you safe."_

_"Great. I'm being protected by a twelve-year-old girl," He snorted grumpily. "I think my balls just shrunk two sizes."_

_Toph chuckled and smacked him on the back, which stung and made his tail whip back and forth wildly for a second. "You're plenty manly, but you _did_ lose some of it when you became a cuddly little kitten," she grinned. "Still, don't feel bad. You'll have your chance to be all testosterone and badass again soon. Just wait for it. But in the meantime… I'll be the man between us."_

_"That makes me feel _loads_ better," he harrumphed sarcastically. But a small smile snuck up onto his lips soon afterward._

xXxXx

During the sunny hours of the day, it isn't difficult to pretend to be a normal cat. Sometimes Zuko catches himself thinking he really _is_ a cat, out of instinct and what is slowly but surely becoming habit. He hates it when he forgets for a few seconds that he's human, though; nothing can be more demeaning.

But at night…

He's only had to suffer two before an early morning took them to a small island with a village and a cave to settle down in, but during those two nights, he needed assistance. Toph had stayed up half the midnight hours just to make sure that Zuko remained hidden beneath a blanket she threw over his cat-self before the moon rose. Her excuse to her friends had been: "Don't you know? Cats like closed-in spaces. That's why they crawl underneath stuff. And Patchy here is no different. So let him sleep in peace, eh?"

Luckily, the nearly pitch-blackness of western nights spared Zuko and Toph the questioning as to why the bundle under the blanket seemed to grow larger and then smaller again. Still, Zuko had hated traveling that way, because underneath the blanket, he was left with himself until sleep overtook him. His naked, exposed self, with nothing to hide or do except think for hours and hours until he wore himself out from thinking and shivering and had to fall alseep.

– Which is why, now, as they land as a false cloud at a cave's entrance, Zuko can't be happier. It is much easier to hide on land, or at least on something larger than the fluffy, flying bison.

As they land, Sokka instantly is back to his antics, which Zuko has grown used to over the course of their ship ride. Sokka makes a fool of hmself, and Zuko snickers, because honestly, how had this fool ever been considered a warrior? – Unless, maybe, it was precisely these sort of shenanigans that saved the group from potential danger? _Hmm, perhaps,_ Zuko amends mildly. But as he stretches and sharpens his nails on a volcanic rock, kneading into it like dough, he catches a sound. An adorable, lighthearted sound, one of laughter.

He perks his ears and spins around to catch the end of it, a joint combination of Katara, Toph, and Aang laughing at Sokka saying, "Hey, this is enemy territory; those are enemy birds."

But what stands out among that laughter is one voice, one laugh, but now that the moment has passed, Zuko doesn't know whose. Wait a minute; does that mean that there are already hints of who he is supposed to break the spell with, and he's missing it?! – Suddenly, Sokka doesn't appear to be the only fool around here.

As Zuko steps into the cave, he catches the end of a conversation about 'not becoming cave-people,' and 'needing new clothes.' Zuko would definitely like new clothes; he's been stuck wearing his Earth Kingdom greens and browns for a little bit too long, and while he has been complimented by his uncle about how the browns suit his rugged nature, Zuko would give anything to be clothed in familiar reds, mahoganys, and golds. And blacks; there are some charcoals and blacks as well. Traditional, after all, to represent volcanic ash and charred wood and flames.

They end up robbing from a dry cleaning service near some hot springs and natural steam vents. Toph smuggles some clothes for Zuko as the cat waits behind some rocks. As she sneaks back first with her bundle, she shrugs and says, "It's hard to base it off of how big it feels in my hands, so I hope these will do. For you _and _me," she says, nearly smiling. "I don't even know if I picked girl clothes for myself. And to be honest, I don't really care."

But she had chosen a set of clothes for young women, and for him, she chose a set that would be perfect for a prince who left home: a layered set of undershirt and tunic with a tie and trousers, all decked out in accenting golds and coordinating Tuscan reds and bloody crimsons. He couldn't have done better himself, even if the clothes look at least a size and a half too big. But baggy is better than tight.

They wander into town to purchase final accents in order to appear authentic, and really, Zuko couldn't care less. So long as they try not to speak too much or act like they know everything when they don't, they should be fine. He's tempted to wander off – he's been here before, as a child, when he visited the public school with his mother and sister as honored guests – but he knows better than to leave the group, else he might wind up permanently separated from them.

"I used to visit my friend Kuzon here a hundred years ago," Aang says a bit proudly, like he knows what he's doing and remembers exactly where he is.

And the reference strikes a cord in Zuko, because didn't Aang tell him once that the boy used to have a Fire Nation friend that he was close to? Was that friend named Kuzon? _Maybe they can pull this off after all, _Zuko thinks idly.

Then, Aang says, "Everyone just follow my lead and sat cool. Or, as they say in the Fire Nation, 'stay flamin.'"

…_Or maybe they can't,_ Zuko corrects with a sigh. He follows along behind Katara and close to Toph's ankles. He nudges the blind girl once, twice, until she halts and stoops down to his level. "I know, I know," she whispers as the others slow their pace and wait for her. She scoops Zuko up and continues talking in order to save time. "We're probably doomed if Twinkle Toes thinks that everything that used to apply back then will still apply now. But we have to go along with it, because right now, he needs the confidence. Katara taught me that, back when I was first teaching Aang to earthbend."

Against her chest, Zuko nods dully. 'I guess you're right,' he meows in a bored manner. 'But I'm going to keep an eye on him anyway.' He leaps out of her arms and picks up his pace into a semi-dash until he's caught up with Aang.

He doesn't think about why, but he knows that he should be around the boy to keep him out of trouble. Must be his old feelings rekindled; stick with the Avatar, because he's important to Zuko's restored honor. Or something like that. It kind of doesn't matter much any longer, not when Zuko is probably presumed to be a runaway traitor and the Avatar is supposedly dead. Still, chasing after Aang is kind of what Zuko _does._ It's all he's known since he was thirteen.

The thing is, it turns out that he needs to stick with the arrow-headed boy, because as soon as the others walk into a place full of meat – Aang is a vegetarian, so he refuses to go inside – something bad happens.

A couple of passing officers catch Aang wearing the school uniform of the community, and he's taken away to the school itself. Zuko scurries behind the boy's dragging heels, and barely catches Momo peek out from the back of Aang's collar before he disappears into the building.

For the remaining hours of the school day, Zuko paces wildly, scratching angrily at a pebble or plant every now and then, while he waits. Dammit, what was Aang thinking, getting himself hauled away and enrolled in school like that?! Doesn't he know that they can't stay here long, and that this could compromise his identity, and that –

_Why do I care?_ He thinks as his paws come to an abrupt stop. His tail swishes back and forth a few times, dusting the ground while he ponders this. _It's almost as if I'm blaming myself. But I didn't do anything wrong, and it's not a big deal, so long as Aang watches his manners around the strict elders that are bound to be lurking in those hallways. So I should leave, and find he others. Maybe go back to the cave. I don't have to be here._

And with that, Zuko nods curtly and turns on the pads of his feet back in the direction he came from.

_The Avatar can handle himself. This is a lot better than when he ran off the ship the other day. I have nothing to worry about,_ he huffs in irritation, and pretty soon, he's back at the cave and settling down around a fire Sokka is creating to cook some of their take-home meaty goods for lunch.

xXxXx

The sun is sinking over the horizon as Aang gets back. Katara, using her stern-mother-voice, scolds the Avatar by reminding him how worried they were and yadda yadda. Zuko snorts out of boredom with their conversation as Aang explains to his friends his plan about school. His snort turns into one of laughter when he sees the noodle-art version of his father. Aang is creative, Zuko will give him that much.

But the ex-prince, for once, agrees with Sokka: a Fire Nation school, even if only for a few days, does _not_ sound like a god plan. But the others agree to it, so Zuko shrugs and lets them do as they please. It's not like he has a say as a cat, anyhow. To them, he's just a pet and not a reliable source about Fire Nation-related subjects.

With a yawn Zuko pushes himself to his four feet and strolls casually out of the cave, headed in no particular direction. He needs to find a place to camp out by himself for when the moon returns him to his usual form, minus, of course, the feline accents.

"Flameo, Hotman!" Zuko catches Aang saying, his vlice getting louder. Then: "Hey, wait up, Little Buddy! Where d'ya think you're goin'?"

Zuko hesitates, realizing that Aang is talking to him. He slows, but doesn't stop, and permits the youth to catch up with him. He doesn't like his odds, however: the sun is getting mighty low in the sky, and the moon can't be too far behind it. Curse that blasted sphere! It would have been better if it _had_ stayed destroyed. Then there would be no ghost-Yue, no cat-spell, no falling in love, no Avatar gang to follow around…

But also no more second chances. And possibly no life, either, because Zuko saw himself get shot while battling with Azula, and for all he knows, he died afterward.

He ceases walking to shudder. Death is not a pleasant thought. Zuko seriously needs to get is mind off of such trivial things. But being unable to speak kind of makes you a hair over-the-top with thinking.

"I said, why don't you like being close to people at night, Kitty?" Aang repeats, and Zuko had been so long in his thoughts that he hadn't noticed the boy had said anything. He turns to find Aang squatting down, holding his knees for balance, as he peers sideways at the feline. "I know you can't answer me, but could you at least give me a hint? I'm good at guessing things."

Zuko looks away. That should be hint enough.

Aang sighs in disappointment. "Okay, I get it. You had a bad owner before, and that's why you don't like getting super-close to humans. Or maybe you're just like that anyway, and your previous owner has nothing to do with it?"

Zuko peeks one eye open, his scarred one. His left ear twitches once in response.

The boy laughs. He falls backward, onto his bottom. He folds his legs like a pretzel and pats his thighs a couple times. "Either way, why don't you come back into the cave with us? You don't have to be nearby, you can just hang around the back if you like. But you must have a reason for being here, or else you wouldn't have left the ship. Am I right?"

The cat seems to nod, and Aang can see the intelligence in those golden eyes. He automatically infers that the cat actually _is_ nodding, because it somewhat understands.

He grins. "You know, you're really stubborn, and kind of aggressive. Even a little violent. And the color of your eyes, along with that scar… it reminds me of somebody I know. Maybe you've heard of him? He's he prince around here. I don't know what happened to him, though, after Ba Sing Se. He probably got sent back home, to the palace, where everything is given to him. But you know what, Patches? I don't think he's happy, if he's there. Because even though he chose wrong… I know that Zuko has goodness in him. Everybody does; his is just buried a little deeper than most." He smiles minutely. "Want to know a secret? He's the one who saved me from Zhao. I truly was catpured back then. My friends don't know about it, though. So don't tell."

And with that, he presses a finger to his lips, 'shh,' and gets up and walks away, back into the cave.

Zuko sits there for a long while, outside of the cave entrance, around the corner, where no one can see him. He sits there, and blinks stupidly a few times. Just what the hell was that about? He can't figure it out. But he has this weird, lurching feeling in his stomach, like the vertigo sort you feel when you fall from great heights. He doesn't like this feeling. Maybe it was something he ate. Or, rather, something he _didn't_ eat, seeing as how his cat-tummy can't hold much food inside of it for long.

Agreeing that he must be hungry, Zuko lifs his weight up onto his back legs and prepares himself to go off in search of food. But as he does so, the moon's light beams overhead, and in seconds, he finds himself thudding to the ground, transforming again.

When it's done, he shakily runs around to the back of the cave and picks up the rock Toph used to hide his new clothes, dusts them off, and puts them on. They fit like how he had thought: loose, but pleasantly so. He wriggles around in them freely as he scoops up, too, the teeny amount of money Toph left behind for him in case he wanted or needed something. What he needs, he realizes first, is shoes. And secondly, food for that stomach of his that doesn't know when to settle down.

xXxXx

The second night is different than the first, and irksome to say the least. Zuko winds up sleeping behind Appa in the far corners of the cave, where the shadows hide him; he also finds that he can't get Aang's words out of his daydreams and nightdreams, as hard as he tries.

And the third night is even worse, because Aang decides to host a little get-together of schoolmates, bodies dancing to upbeat, chiming music, with candlelight reflecting off of the cave walls, giving the space a charming, welcome feel.

But if matters weren't bad enough, what with all of the possible witnesses to his becoming a cat-boy during the moon's patially-full phase, there also is the problem of misguided anger Zuko feels as he spots certain couples dancing. Namely one couple in particular, Aang and Katara.

Now, they could be dancing so in sync because they're friends and they trust one another (dancing is like sparring in that way: you have to trust your partner, or else it won't work). Or they could be dancing like that because they feel like it, because they're having fun. Or… they could be dancing together really close and energetic because they _like_ one another. In the _romantic_ sense.

And for some really, this royally pisses Zuko off. Like, so much so that he wants to firebend a wall between them and knock the head off of a statue, he's so pissed. But why? Why be mad? The two are merely having fun, enjoying the atmosphere, and…

And… what? About to kiss? It almost looks like it. But perhaps not. Perhaps that part where they lean in and smile is because they think it's funny.

Zuko sure hopes so.

He tears himself away from the crack high on the wall he had been peeking through (he is, for once, extremely glad that cats are naturals at leaping up nto high places). As his feet touch the ground, they turn from cat to human. The transformations are becoming more rapid, more routine, and far less painfu, which is good new for Zuko.

The banished prince yanks on his clothes in the secrecy of the part of the cave where Appa and Momo are concealed; Appa being a dead giveaway that one of the 'new kids on the rock' is in fact the Avatar.

He sneaks out around back, where Toph left him a roll-away boulder just big enough for him to fit through. He doesn't know why, but he feels the need to intervene at that dance party. He can't tell which makes him angrier (his way of being jealous): Katara dancing with Aang, or… Aang dancing with Katara. But he is aware of this much: this feeling can only mean one thing, and that is that he must be meant to be with one of the two, because he would otherwise have on reason for feeling so inanely envious of one of them. It's just that, in the heat of his fuming frustration, he can't tell which he is jealous of, the airbender or the waterbender.

He prays to Agni that he is jealous of the airbender, because Zuko would rather not think about how others might react to him accidentally (or destined to be?) falling in love with another male.

And so, in order to cut into the middle of the dancing, Zuko disguises himself with a scarf wrapped around his hair to hide his ears, shoves his tail down one pantleg of his trousers, and covers his left eye with a sash as a sort of eye patch. No one will ever know, except maybe Toph. She's probably used to his physical figure by now, but she won't tell. Hell, she might even be amused by all of this.

Zuko enters the cave, and wisks past bodies of various ages until he comes to the center where many are crowded to watch Katara and Aang dance. Their dance is just ending; he catches them in their final pose, Katara bent over backward with one foot kicked out while Aang's lightly holds the middle of her back to balance her above his slightly bent knee.

They are panting, sweaty, and flushed. The image is appealing; the waterbender's hair is wilder than its usual wave, and flows behind her back and clings to the sweaty drop around her face just right. And even Aang looks good; his face is suddenly more mature-looking, and his chest broader. You wouldn't think that he was bandaged beneath those clothes, or that Katara had pretended to be a pregnant woman yesterday, playing the role of "Kuzon's" (note the quote around the alias) mother.

But Zuko quickly shakes these thoughts away. It's improper to think about such things at a time like this.

"Mind if I cut in?" he asks, being careful to cloak his voice to be a hair higher in pitch, and softer in tone. He doesn't want to sound like himself: low and raspy.

"Only if you think you can dance," Katara jokes. "But I'll let Aang have this one. I'm beat," she says breathlessly. She turns, her hair spinning around her until she is gone, most likely off in search of something to drink.

"Looks like it's just you and me, Stranger," Aang grins a tad awkwardly. "That's quite the getup you have on there. What, you don't want to be seen at a school dance?"

"No, I really don't," Zuko half-jokes back, although he is being utterly truthful. "But I do want to be here."

"Then be here!" the disguised monk says with a spread of his arms. "You're welcome here. You look a little too tall to be from my class," he frowns, "But hey, it doesn't matter. There are other older kids here, too. Why don't you dance with them?"

"I was hoping you would show me how," Zuko improvises, because something is tugging at him to stay rooted here, and not scamper off with someone else. Although he could use it to bail; this is starting to feel like a bad idea. He can feel his tail tap nervously against his calf. He shifts his weight so that no one notices the movement. "I'm not very good at dancing."

"Have you ever sparred with anyone?" Aang offers. "Because it's really the same thing. That's kind of what me and Kat– Uh," he stutters, and Zuko knows it's because the boy can't use Katara's name without it sounding horribly Water Tribe-like. "Katsura. What me and Katsura were doing. She taught me how to… firebend. Yeah, firebend. Are you a firebender?"

"Yes," Zuko says, again not having to lie, despite the fact that Aang is and is failing miserably at it. But talking to him casually like this, the polar opposite of how he used to… it's so easy. It shouldn't be this easy, but it is. "I'm a firebender. And I've sparred plenty."

"Then follow my lead, and you'll be dancing in no time!" Aang says cheerfully, and he steps a hair closer to Zuko, the proximity stirring up a lurching feeling in his stomach again.

Unfortunately, the party gets crashed right at this very moment, a moment so crucial in Zuko's mind. The headmaster of the school, along with a tattle-tale boy about Sokka's or Katara's age, step inside. Some officers are with them, too. And all too soon, they're chasing after Aang and the other kids are creating a distraction by also wearing headbands and then things are moving way too fast.

It is all Zuko can do to scramble out of the cave and around it, silently leaping onto Appa's tail at the last minute. Toph hears him, though, and quickly mentions Sokka's fake beard to take their mind off of the unknown addition to the group. Katara agrees with her, and Toph mentally breathes a sigh of relief. "Yeah; it's over, you know. You can take off the beard now."

"Oh no, I can't; it's permanently glued to my face," the Water Tribe warrior replies with a stroke of the locks.

Toph keeps them talking, hoping that Zuko is good at hiding in plain sight. She bites her bottom lip anxiously, and tries to convince everyone of falling asleep early tonight, what with the tiring dancing and all. Fortunately, the others take her up on her suggestion, and all lie down and get comfortable. Aang soars above them with a gust of air to land on Appa's neck. He takes the reigns while the others say goodnight.

But just before Toph can wander to the edge of the saddle and hist Zuko up to hide him under a blanket again, Aang suddenly calls out over his shoulder to her, "Toph! I just realized something: I think Patches is missing! Did we leave him behind?"

"Uh… no, no! I got him at the last second, don't worry!" she answers, her lip sliding between her teeth again. She quickly yanks Zuko on board and stuffs him under a blanket. Everybody's heads jerk in her direction, but she simply smiles – too widely – and rubs the back of her neck. "See? He's right here, sleeping under his blankie like usual." She pats the top, hiding most of the lump with her body. "Good kitty."

Aang exhales softly. "Oh, good. I was worried for a second there. Us misfits have to stick together, you know? And a cat is no exception."

"Too true, Twinkle Toes," she nods, "Too true."

xXxXx

Meanwhile, down the back-alley streets of the distrustful portion of the Fire Nation capital, where dirty deeds done dirt-cheap, there is a transaction occurring: money for bounty hunting, blood for blood.

"I have chosen you because you are the best of the best. You're quick and efficient and deadly, but most of all, your firebending talents are unique, just like mine. I'd do this job myself, but, well. I'm needed here, for the sake of reputation. Besides, what good would it do if a princess left her home fr no reason?"

A woman – no, a teenage girl, but a mentally matured one at that – stands in the night and speaks to a man clad in armored limbs and a fearsome tattoo.

With a smirk upon her glossy, pink-painted lips, and a narrowing of her eyes, she goes on to say, "As you know, I brought the Earth Kingdom to its knees. But not without consequence." She momentarily scowls. "The Avatar is alive somewhere, I know it. You need to find him, and kill him for good. If you can, do it while he is in the Avatar State; that way, he cannot be reborn again. Also… there is a matter of my brother, Zuko," she tells him evilly. "I don't know where he is, but I do know this: wherever the Avatar may be, my brother is never far behind. So when you kill the Avatar, be sure to kill the prince as well. That way, I get what I want – all of my problems solved, the loose ends tied up once and for all, as well as the gift of being having Zuzu's birthright as Fire Lord pass down to me – and you get what you want, the thrills of the hunt and the slaughter, as well as a lifetime's worth of wealth."

The man steps forward, a glare in his stony, cold eyes. His metal leg whines against the ground as the spring in his heel scrunches up, and clangs as his pointed toe touches down.

"So, then… do we have a deal?" the wicked girl inquires, her tone alluring and frightening and firm, all at the same time. She offers her hand to shake, her nails long and sharp and perfectly manicured.

The man's hand grasps hers, and nods it once before letting go and disappearing into the night.

And the girl is left grinning madly, a new gleam in her eye as she makes her way back to the palace.


	8. Chapter VIII

**A/N: Yeah, so this one took a long time to get posted and is really, really long (7,000-plus words! Before, my chapters were only 2,000 or the most recent, 5,000!) because I combined 'The Painted Lady' and 'Sokka's Master' since both chapters are very sibling-oriented. But that ended up making this even longer, since i combined two episodes. Oh well. At least Zuko has some progress with his cat-curse. ;P**

* * *

Chapter VIII

Their travels bring them to a stinky, polluted river, with a village sitting in the center. It's nearly impossible to catch anything _living_ in the water, so the group is forced to travel into the village. Appa and Momo stay behind, but Zuko insists on tagging along.

A man who calls himself Doc (although Zuko thinks the man is a bit off his rocker), takes them into town. Toph clings to either Aang or Sokka the entire time that they stroll through the wooden village because she can't 'see' as well on wood. A strange burning scorches the inside of the cat's stomach.

Katara looks around, and Zuko hears her bark at her brother about wanting to help the people. Zuko doesn't see why she wants to bother. What change can she make, anyhow? Besides, Sokka won't allow it. He has some sort of special schedule all planned out in order to make it to the rendezvous location for the invasion in time.

But as they are about to leave, a small child requests some spare food, and Zuko pauses. Katara gives the boy some of their (rather disgusting-looking) fish. Zuko feels bad, suddenly, for thinking like he had. He's never felt bad about much of anything before, but maybe something should be done in this town. A small something would be better than nothing.

So while they are back at camp and night begins to fall, Zuko hides himself away and dresses himself behind a hill and sneaks into town, covered up like how he was at the dance party. But while he is sneaking into the town, he spots another figure – a woman, it seems, because of her bust – cloaked in guazy robes. The figure has baskets with them, and seems to be handing out food to every house in the tiny town.

Puzzled, Zuko goes to follow the girl, but just like that, she vanishes onto the water, a mist forming around her. A mist… That's odd. The spirits he knows – which, in all honesty, only consists of Yue – have been transparent and free-floating, but this spirit seems to glide on the water; Like… like a waterbender.

xXxXx

The next day, the village is happy. Appa seems to be sick – his tongue is purple – so they can't go anywhere yet, but everything else seems to be going great. And Zuko hadn't even gotten a chance to do anything the night before. And it's funny, because now he has a hunch about something, and he needs to find out if it's true or not.

So, that night, the ex-prince disguises himself once more and head sout into the town, on lookout for what the village-folk call, 'The Painted Lady.' She is some sort of river spirit, and apparently a very remarkable and helpful soul.

When she finally appears on the fog like before, Zuko ducks into the building she enters, a hospital of sorts. He has already tried to re-bandage a few of the sleeping people's sores with fresh, clean bandages, but the Painted Lady enters at that exact moment. He stiffens, and doesn't have time to hide before she steps in and heals the people. The glow of her hands is a familiar one, and he stares after her as she doesn't notice him and walks out, a little boy thanking her before she leaves.

Just as the so-called spirit skips across the water, Zuko cuts her off by running ahead over boats and rocks and landing in front of her. "You're doing a good thing, helping them," he says.

She looks startled, and stiffens. She changes her voice, but he already sees who she is. "Thank you… um, mortal. I noticed that you like to help as well." She smiles, her eyes hidden from the hat resting upon her head. "Now if you'll excuse me, I must be on my way –"

"But this can be dangerous, too. That factory over there," he points, "Will get suspicious. You need to fix things once and for all, or leave them alone completely. Do you understand, Katara?"

She freezes, and her mouth falls open. "How… how do you know my name?"

But Zuko is already leaping away, off into the darkness of the night.

"Wait!" the waterbender calls out, but it's too late. The boy is gone. And yet… she thought she saw something: a piece of cloth slip from his head, and in the moonlight, something that looked like large ears. But it must have been her imagination, or the way his hair spread out while he jumped. Yes, that must be it.

Shrugging it off, Katara returned to camp. And the following day, things went as planned; but it isn't until Sokka suggests the destruction of the factory that a truly brilliant idea forms in her mind.

"Fix things once and for all, huh?" Katara smiles, and connects her brother's joking statement to the stranger's from the previous night. "I think I can do that."

And with that, she decided something. And little did she know that the only person who heard her is a little cat sitting near her feet, licking idly at his paw and wiping it on his face.

xXxXx

That night, Zuko follows Katara out again. He wants to help her in secret, if he can. Except she doesn't make it; Momo senses her, and wakes up Aang. Zuko tenses as he sprints behind rocks, mentally praying tha neither Aang nor Katara spot him.

But Katara gets caught. She tries to mask her voice again, but she doesn't do a very good job. "Well hullo, Avatar… I wish I could talk, but I am very busy."

"Yeah, me too," Aang replies caually. "I hate that." He pauses and tries to look at her face beneath the hat. "You know, you're pretty for a spirit. I don't meet many spirits, but the ones I do meet? _Not_ very attractive."

Something burns in Zuko's stomach again, after hearing that.

"Uh-huh, well, thank you…"

"You seem familiar, too," Aang says, and Zuko has to bite his hand to keep from laughing. This situation is just getting worse and worse.

"A lot of people say that," Katara supplies as an answer, and moves to walk past the boy.

But he peeks under her hat again and says, "No… you really look familiar."

"Look, I really should get going –"

But as she starts fast-walking, Aang gets an annoyed look on his face and bends some air to send her hat flying off of her head. She tries to grab it, but she can't hide her face, paint or not.

"Katara?! _You're_ the Painted Lady?!" he exclaims, and from there, it becomes a miniature explanation as to her reasons and actions of the past couple nights, as well as Appa's "sickness." Aang merely stands and absorbs this, and Zuko is about to leave, but something catches his attention. Something Katara is saying next.

"I had some help, though," she says softly. "A boy. He came into the village and helped me with the people by giving them fresh bandages and warning me about the factory. He also encouraged me to either fix things once and for all or forget about it completely. And I've come to a decision."

"And what decision is that?" Aang wants to know.

"I need to finish things here so that the people remain happy and don't go back to their miserable lives. But I can't do it alone, which is why I was going to look for that boy. I saw a sword sheath on his back, so I thought…"

"Just what do you want to do, Katara?" Aang says, his voice sincere. "Because even though you lied, you're still being very considerate and kind-hearted. You're like… a secret hero!"

She grins. "Thanks. But what I want to do wont wound very good. See, I want to destroy that factory, shutting it down once and for all. I want to clean up the river, and give these people back their medicine and food. I want this place to thrive again. Sokka was only kidding, but he and that boy are right; this is the only way to help these people permanently."

"If that's your goal," the Avatar responds slowly, "Then count me in. I just hope that no one is in there, because I don't want to get anyone hurt."

Katara nods, and starts leading the way.

"Count me in, too," Zuko dares to say, his tongue working and his vocal cords slipping out the words before he can stop himself. He doesn't even know why he's offering, and why he isn't leaving to go to sleep back at camp where the campfire is warm and he knows that he won't get caught being… well, something other than the feline he's known as.

"Hey!" Kaatra says excitedly, "Look, Aang! It's the boy I was talking about!"

"Boy?" the young teen questions, and as he spins around, he finds Zuko standing there. "Who are you?"

"It doesn't matter," he says, and he walks past Aang and Katara as he withdraws his swords. "Are we going to do this or not?"

Katara and Aang, unbeknown to Zuko, exchange glances. But then they are racing to catch up with him, his tall frame towering between theirs. "Wait up! Of course we are!"

Zuko pauses and nods once at them, and then proceeds toward the factory.

The job, with three people working and one of them a waterbender and the other an air- and earthbender, is done swiftly. Zuko slashes through piping and kicks off valves, while Aang crushes and dismantles with stone and blows out fires with air. Simultaneously, Katara brings in so much water that the entire place floods, and the three have to escape before the collective pressure of the pipes and furnaces blows the whole place to smithereens.

By this time, the moon is hanging lowly in the sky, and Zuko's time as a human is running out. Therefore he unexplicably disappears, leaving Katara and Aang confused and alone. They return to camp, pumped up on adrenaline, only to be found out by Toph and Sokka.

Sokka is furious and wanting to leave, Zuko is sleepy and lying on Appa in his cat-form for a nap, and Toph is sticking a purple tongue out to prove a point. Katara pleads with her brother, and after a while, she wins the argument.

But the day turns out for the better in the end. Because, after a short skirmish with the workers and head of the factory, scared stiff by an appearance of the Painted Lady, the river gets cleaned up after the people discover that Katara is a waterbender, and all's well that ends well.

And Zuko can't help but feel like he's missing something, but he can't place a claw on what, so he simply shurgs it off and awaits the next adventure, which there is sure to be.

xXxXx

"Where the hell are we, Aang?" Sokka grumbles in semi-wakefulness as he stretches and yawns on Appa's back. Aang is seated on the bison's neck, his feet resting up atop the animal's head while his hands are folded over his stomach, reins in tow. He jerks awake, and with a tired glance, he shakes his head.

"Not entirely sure," the arrowheaded boy shrugs. "But it sure is beautiful, isn't it?"

The sun is about to set, and tonight is supposed to be a night of falling stars, as the riverfolk told them before they left. The scenery is flawless: a river snaking between a valley of green, green grass and hilly, mini-mountains made of the darkest chocolate earth surrounds it. They land on a somewhat flat surface, and watch the sun set.

Zuko scampers off, turning into his mostly human form and decides to watch the sky with his group members, even if he is quite the distance apart from them.

"I've never seen anything like it," one remarks, and Zuko silently agrees. Falling stars in such rapid precession is rare.

"Ehh," Toph shrugs, "You're seen nothing once, you've seen nothing a thousand times."

But as she says this, Zuko jerks up in attention, because one of the meteors is headed straight for them, flying over their heads with a bluish-white flame and crashing with smoke and a red glow a couple miles away.

"Come on, let's go check it out!" Aang says in a chipper tone.

Zuko, ever the quiet shadow, sneaks back onto Appa and hides beneath a blanket again, luggage around him. The others hop on, and as they approach the ball of fire, they realize that the fallen rock is going to destroy a nearby town unless they put the fire out.

The benders move instantly into action, throwing air and water at the flames, and bending earth around it to make a trench. Zuko peeks his head out of the blanket and helps them as much as he can from afar, willing the flames to back down and cool their rough heat, but he doesn't make it to obvious. He gives Aang the final blow, the boy making water spread out and burst, turning the crater into a snowy pit over burnt dirt.

Sokka hadn't been able to help at all, though. And Zuko spied the usually comical teen's slumped shoulders, and the way he started griping about the situation to himself. Well, technically to Momo, but he might as well be talking to himself with how much the lemur can understand.

The following morning, over breakfast, Toph sighs because she wishes that they could get the hero worship like they used to, because this town doesn't even know that it was saved.

Zuko nibbles at the fish set before him on the table, adjacent to Toph's own plate. She strokes his spine with one hand while the other stuffs her face around her words.

"I mean, I don't ask for much," she's saying, "Just a little recognition for something we did. A, 'hey, thank you very much for not letting me die in an uproar of flames while a slept.' You know?"

Katara giggles. "I don't want to be conceded, but I'll admit that it feels nice to be recognized, sometimes, for doing good deeds no one else would do."

"Yeah," Aang agrees. "It's like… a small happiness. A joy that says, 'look, I was able to do something right in my life.' It's not conceded or prideful at all to want to know that. At least, I don't think so."

"Hey, Sokka? You okay over there? You haven't been saying as much as you normally would, and you haven't touched your smoked sea slug," Katara notes about her brother.

"Yeah, well, I was just thinking. I was thinking about how you guys are lucky. You _can_ do those things. You can fly around and make other objects fly around and do cool things with the elements around us…. But I can't fly around and mess with things, all right? And I feel awful about it, because I'm not even a good warrior. I can't do the things you guys do. I'm just… a regular guy, and it hurts," Sokka confesses. His head is hanging lowly and his voice is low and depressed.

The others don't know quite what to say. They attempt to cheer him up with the positives about him, but they are a bit lost for words. And in being lost for words, Sokka takes it badly.

Zuko stops eating. He looks up, wipes his mouth with his paw, and thinks for a moment. Then he stands and hops off the table, coming up to Sokka and meowing, if only to cheer the guy up. 'Look, I've been through something like that, so I know how you feel. My sister was – and probably always will be – better than me, too. But you can't let it keep you down,' he says in catenese, as Toph called it. 'You have to keep pressing forward.'

And to make his point clear, Zuko nudges Sokka in the back and tugs, gently eith his teeth, at Sokka's pants to get him to stand.

"See, Sokka? Even Patches sees the special things about you. He knows that you have potential. And just because you don't see yourself that way, doesn't make it true; because none of us see you that way," Katara tells him, her smile growing warm and bright as she stands and touches him on the shoulder. "Besides, I think I know what will pick you back up again."

She takes his hand and Aang's, and in turn, Aang takes Toph's, making her blush a little. "Come on, Prince Patchy! We're goin' places!"

And Zuko has never run so fast in such a light mood in his life.

xXxXx

"Shopping!" Sokka cheers as he claps his hands excitedly. Zuko rolls his eyes; this hadn't at all been what he was hinking of when he ran after Toph and the others. He opts to sit outside the weapon store and bask in the sun while he cleans himself instead f going inside. He doubts that pets are allowed, anyhow.

As soon as the group emerges from the store, however, Sokka seems to be in a much different mood than a girl giddy over buying new things; he has a serious, yet cheerful expression on his face, and as they walk towards the edge of town, Toph leans down and picks up Zuko to whisper an explanation to him.

"While Snoozles was failing at trying out weapons, he saw a sword, and the shopkeeper told us about this guy who lives in a castle up the road from here who is a master swordsmen. Aang suggested that what Sokka needs is't a new weapon, but a master to teach him, since that's what all of us have had in order to be the fighters we are now. So we're going to go up there, set up camp outside of the castle, and let Sokka see if he can be accepted by this Piandao-character."

Zuko nods as soon as the blind girl is finished speaking. He's heard of this Piandao; the man is supposedly very picky in his selection of pupils, and a strange man, because he has been many places in the world, and isn't strickly loyal to the Fire Nation; of the stories Zuko has heard from his uncle, Piandao is a man of neutral standing, and old-world teachings.

Sounds perfect.

So the group camps out and waits for Sokka's return, which they think might take a few days, depending on how it goes. The first day is spent quickly enough.

But without Sokka, things are kind of…

"Booooring," Toph sighs lethargically as she lays sprawled out on the ground. Zuko is sitting atop her stomach, his head lowered on his paws. "There's nothing to _do _without Sokka throwing jokes and ideas around; I mean, I did everything I could think of! I already picked my toes… Twice."

"Twice?" Aang questions, and Zuko lifts one eyelid to peer out at him. The boy is stationed not too far away, his head one point of the triangle the three teens' bodies have been spread out into.

"The first time is for cleaning. The second time is for the sweet picking sensation," she says as she wriggles her toes, and Zuko is shaken off of her stomach. He plops onto the ground, a little miffed because he had been sleepily comfortable. He almost laughs at himself, though; since when did he become such a lazy creature? It must be the feline gene in his body affecting him.

"Sokka is in charge of the schedule, so I don't know if we are supposed to be doing anything," Katara points out.

"It's _so_ hot out today," Toph complains as she scratches the inside of her nose with a twist of her finger. She rolls over and pushes herself into siting position. "Maybe we should find a little swimming hole. I can't swim, but I wouldn't mind cooling off."

"Sounds like a plan to me," Katara says wistfully as she stands up and lifts her hair to fan the sweat on the back of her neck. "Because it's so hot… It's so hot that, that Momo is shedding like Appa! Huh, huh?"

"…I guess the jokes don't run in the family, eh, Katara?" Aang teases, and she grunts her displeasure at the remark. Toph chuckles.

The blind earthbender grabs Aang's arm and starts tugging him in the opposite direction as Piandao's home. "I think I hear water over there. Let's go, before I die of heatstroke!"

"Okay, okay," Aang laughs, and waves a hand over to Katara. "Come on, Katara! Bring Appa and Momo along, too; Appa could use a bath. He gets all sweaty in summer heat like this."

They all journey over a mess of hills and stumble across a river that looks like it winds on forever, and in the distance, they can hear the rumble of a waterfall. Little did they know that, at that very moment, Sokka was being forced to paint said waterfall.

Zuko hesitates as he nears the bank of the river; how strong is the current? Will he be all right if he stays in the shallow areas? As a cat, does he even _like_ the water?

But Zuko's inquiries are silenced as his brain nearly shuts off at the sights around him. He automatically feels embarrassed, which is a newer sensation for his teenagehood. He ducks his head away quickly, because those damn conflicting, confusing emotions are springing up again.

Katara is down to her underclothes, a wrap-around that barely covers her chest development, and a set of skirt-covered shorts that accentuate her thighs far too much. And then, beside her, cute little Toph reveals in a small goldenrod tube top and loose, low-rising shorts that she actually does have a figure beneath the layers she normally wears. And it's wrong, because Zuko had begun seeing the Blind Bandit as a sisterly figure.

But worst of all, his eyes had been drawn to Aang, which is what made him look away in the first place. The boy wasn't modest at all; he stripped down to his underwear, a set of rocky-brown colored briefs that reflect the color his eyes turn when the sun sets. And it makes Zuko's fur prickle, because he can't help but follow with his eyes the arrows traveling down Aang's limbs and spine, nor can he help how he notices the boy's muscle development as he has matured.

The ex-prince tries to shake it off. He really does. He turns and walks towards a rock overlooking the opposite side of the river, hoping that it will take his mind off of his puzzling feelings.

Honestly, he is meant to find his true love among these people? But how? He never saw it before because he was fighting them, but they are remarkable people. Every last one of them, even Sokka, is appealing in one manner or another. How is he supposed to choose? How, when Katara is beautiful and Toph is charming and Aang is…

Aang. Zuko used to think solely about the boy, because he is the Avatar. Zuko used to have nearly every thought centered on the boy's location, the boy's capture, and incidentally, the boy's movements, which included watching the boy's body. But he never thought about it this way before. And it scares the firebender, because he's never thought of another male in such a way. He feels… guilty? Is that the proper term? He isn't sure.

But he is sure about one thing: tonight, he's going to talk to Toph about a couple things, because maybe she can help.

xXxXx

The scarred prince trods over toward Toph, who sits with a bowl of soup up to her lips, slurping away at its contents. The sun's light is fading, nearly gone. He knows that the moon will be rising in about half an hour, give or take a few minutes.

Before he gets the chance to reach her, however, Zuko is suddenly yanked sideways, being brought into someone's lap. He stiffens and releases a sharp meow in surprise. He turns his head, his ears back in irritation as he faces is captor. Aang smiles warmly down at him.

"What's your story?" the boy questions as he fights to snuggle the cat into the triangle his legs form when they're crosses Indian-style. The cat fits perfectly, despite its efforts to escape; his nearly full-grown body is precisely the appropriate size for Aang's small chest. The boy still isn't wearing a shirt, but he thankfully put his pants back on. He feels warm against Zuko's fur, and the ex-prince suddenly doesn't feel like struggling any longer. "You don't seem to like me very much, unless I'm sleeping. What am I, some sort of threat to you? Or is Toph just your favorite?" he teases.

"Oh, leave the poor cat alone, Aang," Katara parents as she dishes some stew for herself. "Maybe he doesn't like you as much because the testosterone between you two conflicts too much." She grins. "But then again, Toph is pretty manly, too, isn't she?"

Katara earns herself a fist in the arm for that one.

"Ow! Hey, I was only kidding! I'm not the best as jokes, alright?"

"Which is why I miss Sokka," Toph retorts.

"I got one! – If you miss him so much… why don't you marry him?" Katara tries again, but only gets a blank response from the earthbender. Zuko thought that was pretty funny, though. He snorts, and Aang laughs at him.

"I think the cat gets your sense of humor, Katara," the airbender says playfully. He lifts Zuko by his armpits and forces the black cat to look him in the eyes. The firelight rebounds beautifully off of silver orbs, and Zuko, for a moment, has to glance off to the side to keep from staring, mesmerized. "But I don't get _him._ You're a really weird cat."

_You have no idea,_ Zuko thinks to himself. He squirms, and Aang sets him down again, but continues petting. Zuko doesn't fight it this time; it feels relaxing.

But after about ten minutes, Zuko remembers: he's about to transform back into a semi-human soon, and he had wanted to talk to Toph about… something. His mind is getting fuzzy and forgetful, and he doesn't know if it's because of the pleasure of being pet, his cat-mind in general, or if the Avatar has anything to do with it.

Either way, Zuko is getting annoyed and panicky. To be released, he twists his body and nips at Aang's fingers.

"Hey!" the boy gasps, but Zuko is already fleeing to behind some rocks. He can clearly see the moon beginning to peer over the horizon, bright white and winking at him.

His clothes are still on Appa, so once Zuko is in his humanoid form, he _psst_s to Appa, luring the bison closer. He sneaks up the side of the beast and snatches his clothes, getting them on as fast as possible. Then, he attempts to get Toph's attention by pounding Morse code on the ground. He only hopes hat she knows what the rhythmatic pounds mean, or at least if she knows that it's him making them.

"Um, I'll be right back you guys," the blind girl says awkwardly. She stands and starts creeping towards the rocks behind their campsite. "I have to go… do stuff…"

She slips behind the rocks and hisses, "What?" to Zuko. "Could you be any louder?"

"To you? Probably not. To the others? Definitely. They don't see, feel, or hear like you do, so it's no problem," Zuko reassures her harshly. He pinches the bridge of his nose to correct his tone. "Now, can I talk to you about something?"

"You might as well," Toph shrugs as she walks past him, towards a hill. She climbs up onto it and sits down, patting the space beside her. "But let's talk over here; less chance of you getting caught, Princey."

"Whatever," he grumbles, and makes his way over to her. He stis down and dumbly taps his fingers against one another. Nerves. "Listen. I never told you why I'm here with you guys as an animal, and how I can break the spell to be fully human again. See, uh, the spirit who cast it –"

"Yue," Toph supplies, recalling the name he said the spriit gave itself.

"Yeah, her. She said that I needed to learn to love, right?"

Toph nods. "You mentioned that when we met during your little rant." She smirks, but not unkindly. "You sure were talkative back then, Zuko. What happened?"

"Shut up," he retorts, but also not unkindly. "Anyway, I'm confused, because I know it has to be one of you –"

"You left out that tidbit of information," Toph murmurs thoughtfully. "It's not _me,_ is it? – 'Cause I like you and all, but let's face it, buddy: there's no way I'm kissing a cat, or a guy who's, like, four years older than me."

"No, it's not you," Zuko growls out of frustration. "You're just my friend. But as far as friends go, I keep thinking about yours. Two in specific, actually. Except I don't know which one yet."

One of Toph's eyebrows raise, intrigued. "Ooh, so Prince Patches is torn between two of his 'masters'? That's adorable."

"I'm being serious, Toph."

"So am I," she grins. "It's quite the dilemma, but also very cute."

"Don't call me cute!" Zuko roars, but Toph clamps her hand over his mouth as her brows furrow.

"Not so loud! Do you want them to know that someone they see an enemy is hiding out among them?" she whispers hoarsely. She releases his lips from her palm and shakes her head. "You're so defensive. You need anger management or something, Hothead. Maybe Katara can teach you some of that waterbender, 'calm, cool, and collected' mindset stuff. Or Maybe Aang can help you mediate, for cripes' sake."

"Okay, okay I get it: I need to relax. But that's just the problem, Toph: I feel _too_ comfortable and relaxed sometimes. I don't know if it's the cat in me feeling that way, or if I'm slowly – accidentally – falling in love," Zuko explains in a tone as soft as his voice will allow.

"With who, though?" the blind girl wants to know. "There are only four of us, not counting Appa and Momo and you; and you already said it wasn't me, so…" She swings one hand around, fishing for answers.

"Katara," he mumurs a bit ashamedly. "And… Aang."

Toph blinks twice, and tries not to snicker. "Really? Well…" She coughs behind a hand to hide her amusement. "That's certainly… Um. It makes sense, I suppose."

"How the hell does that make sense?!" Zuko sputters, the heat on his cheeks making a flourish of pink blossom. "It's just too weird! Sure, I have a lot more…" He searches for the proper word. He finds one that is second-best to what actually happened. "_History_… with those two, but… uh. I don't know. I'm so confused, Toph, and I fucking _hate_ being confused."

"No need to drop the f-bomb there, Princey," the earthbender chuckles as she picks up a blade of grass and chews on it a little, the sweet, green flavor leaking into her mouth. "Here, I'll help you figure it out. First of all, how do you feel about their looks? – And I'm the perfect person to help you sort this out, since I have no idea what they look like outside of their general figures."

"Their… looks?" Zuko says with a dry tongue.

"Yeah. You know, are you attracted to them at all? And if you are, which one is more attractive to you? 'Cause, most likely, the person who looks best is probably who you're more in love with," Toph says casually. She flicks the chewed blade of grass at Zuko, who dodges it. "It helps to throw in some other factors besides their looks. Like their good traits, and bad traits. It makes it easier to choose."

"How do you know all of this stuff?" the firebender grumbles under his breath.

Toph shrugs, but a smile is on her lips. "Instinct, I guess. Girl instinct."

"You're hardly girly." Zuko shoots at her.

"Doesn't make me any less of one," Toph shoots back. They laugh, and Toph pulls the prince into a hug. "Come on, Patchy-the-One-Eyed-Pirate; tell the Blind Bandit what you think of her friends."

"Alright, fine," he says grumpily. He sits up out of her embrace and runs his hand over his hair and ears. His tail twitches. "Katara is a beautiful girl. She has that long-haired elegance about her, and she has a kind-hearted face and nice eyes, eyes the color of icy water. And… and she can be fierce when she fights, but it's very respectable. She can act motherly, which is something I've been missing for a long while now. And Katara tries her hardest in everything she does, which is also respectable. She cares about others before herself, and risks everything. She takes charge when she needs to, and she wants to trust people, even if they end of betraying her in the end," he thinks of the cave and winces. "And… hmm. I'm not sure what else. I think that's it."

"Okay," Toph shrugs, "Then what about Twinkle Toes?"

"Why do you call him that, anyway?" Zuko questions, mainly to distrasct her. He isn't sure that he's comfortable talking about what he thinks of another boy's looks.

Toph sees right through his ploy. "Don't go changing the subject, Zuko. But if you must know, I call him that because, when we met, we were in Earth Rumble Six against each other. While fighting, it was hard for me to pinpoint where he was because he sort of _glided_ across the ground, and landed softly. I asked him if his fighting name was the 'Fancy Dancer.' It evolved into Twinkle Toes since, hey, dancers usually go up on their tip-toes, and he often lands that way because of his little airbending moves."

"Oh," Zuko replies.

"Anyway, you better start talking, or else I'll leave and you'll just be even more confused," she says. Tricky brat.

Zuko makes a face, but starts talking after he clears his throat. "Um. Aang. Right. He…" But he can't go on. He struggles for the words to describe the boy. Toph waits, her patience for once being stronger than her attitude. Zuko finally speaks again: "Aang has grown up a lot, since when I first knew him," he starts, and suddenly, he can't stop. "He used to be all smiles and sunshine, happy-go-lucky and totally airheaded. I'm sure he had his guilt and his faults like we all do, but he made it seem as though he were perfect, and in some ways, he was. He used to be cheery and he still is for the most part – that playful, childish demeanor I don't think will ever fully go away, its part of who he is – but there's something more there, now. A darkness he doesn't often show, but is there nonetheless. Something deep and difficult to grasp, but I think I understand, because I have the same thing raging on inside of me, too. A weight, you know? A responsibility, an obligation. I've abandoned mine, but he still has his. And as weird as it feels to say this, I want to help him."

"Funny," Toph says after a long while of thoughtful silence, "You mentioned what's going on in his head and now how he looks or what he does, like you did when you talked about Katara."

"So?" Zuko says, not seeing her point.

"So," Toph stresses, "I think you just showed me who you like."

"You don't mean…" the banished prince says slowly, his voice growing small.

"Yeah, I do," Toph replies with a smirk. She reaches over and pinches his cheek. "Zuko has a crush on Aang, Zuko has a crush on Aang~!" Her sing-song voice only further propells the blush that begins to swarm Zuko's face.

"I… I…!" And he wants to protest, he really does, but his feline ears are perking up in exclamation and his tail is fluttering in excitement, and he knows that he can't deny it without making it into a complete and utter lie. "But… how? Since when?"

"Hmm, beats me," Toph says as she stands up and stretches out her arms and wrist from leaning back on them for so long. "Maybe it's always been there, just a little bit, since before I joined the happy group. Back when you scoured the land to find him. _Be with him._"

"Yeah, to _take him hostage_ and _deliver him to my father_! Not to… t-to… molest him or something!" Zuko nearly shrieks, his voice rising.

"Watch your voice level there, Prince Hothead," she reminds him. "And anyway, at least I helped you figure out who you should be going after. You owe me one."

"I don't owe you a thing!" He hisses in a whisper as she begins walking back to camp. All he gets in response is her laughter.

xXxXx

It is another hot and boring day. Zuko isn't bored, though; he's currently sitting in a corner of the campsite, his tail curled around his body, his eyes closed in what is supposed to look like sleep. Instead, he's thinking. A lot. And trying his best not to glance over at Aang, but it's proving difficult, because now the stupid monk won't leave his thoughts, and it's seriously getting on his last nerve.

"Hey!" Toph says suddenly, making everyone jump. "Sokka's come back!" She could feel the vibrations from his footsteps, his unique footsteps, marching proudly straight towards them.

"Hi, guys. What cha doin'?" the Water Tribe warrior says casually, and all three members of his 'family' run up to him for a hug. Zuko doesn't budge, merely feel the slight burning in his stomach again and now, finally, he knows why it's there: because he's jealous. Jealous that everybody gets to touch Aang like that except for him.

"Yay, Sokka's back!"

"We missed you _so_ much!"

"Say something funny!"

"…Funny how?" the poor boy says, utterly lost. Katara and Aang burst out into hysteric laughter. Toph simply crosses her arms and smiles. Sokka turns to her. "What's their deal?"

"It's not fun without the comical relief around to brighten the day, I guess," she says with a falsely listless tone. "I didn't really care." But she's blushing a little, and Zuko smiles minutely to himself.

"I need your guys' help," Sokka remarks. "Remember that meteor that fell? I want to turn it into a sword."

"…Seriously?" Katara says with a slight frown. "I mean, is that even possible?"

Sokka nods. "I think it is. Plus, it'll be unique; my own space-sword!"

And so they do. They help him gather up the large rock and haul it all the way to the top of the hill where Piandao's mansion resides, and they leave the teenager to himself to make his space-sword.

They finally leave, Sokka with skills and sword and a white lotus Pai Sho tile in hand, Toph with a space-rock bracelet around her arm, and Katara with a sarcastic comment about not believing that she missed her brother. As they walk away, Zuko makes a silent pact to himself. Because now that he knows whom he's interested in and who he most likely is destined to learn his lesson from and who could quite possibly break this damn curse, he has to make things possible.

So Zuko makes a pact: he's going to charm his way into Aang's heart; First as a cat, second as a stranger (which he partially has done twice already), and last as who he truly is, Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation.

xXxXx

Unbeknown to all, back in the Fire Nation, Iroh sits in prison. The guards taunt him, but it is all a façade. He makes himself out to be an desperate old man who lost his mind, but in reality, Iroh is re-training himself.

He watches what he eats (as little of it as he's given) and exercises in any way he can. Pull-ups from the bars, sit-ups, push-ups, and jogging in place. He had to be ready; he can fee the tides turning, things changing all around; and he knows that he must change as well. He must trim down and be strong and ready to fight when the day comes.

So Iroh continues working hard, making his own pact to himself: to break out of prison at the opportune moment, meet up with the White Lotus, and find his beloved nephew. Oh, how he hopes Zuko is alright.

Because if the boy were here in the Fire Nation, wouldn't he have visited already? Just where _is_ his nephew?


	9. Chapter IX

_In the Fire Nation capital, a princess is forced to travel wit her friends to an island resort known as Ember Island._

_In the Fire Nation's neighboring lands, a group of teens are forced into blending with a society they hardly know a thing about._

_One story on a particular day and night is not very relevant. It includes sunbathing and beach volleyball and going to a party (and later wrecking it) and girly chitchat about mothers and fathers and siblings._

_But as for the other story on one particular day and night… it is _extremely_ relevant. It includes a cat-boy and protection and being exposed and a mute, reckless bounty hunter out to destroy them all._

Chapter IX

It all starts with an innocent dip in a large lagoon, hidden within the walls of a bowl-shaped rock formation.

"This is _way_ better than that little river we found the other day," Toph smirks as she kicks her feet in the water as she sits upon a boulder she made. "And the air isn't as suffocating-ly humid today. It's nice. I think I might actually be starting to like the Fire Nation."

"Well, don't get too comfortable here," Sokka warns as he stands high above the rest, waiting to dive. "This is enemy territory, after all."

"As you keep reminding us," Toph sighs. She lies back on the rock with her toes in the water and her hands cushioning her head.

"Aang? Are you sure you should be in your skivvies like that?" Katara asks, worry clear in her tone. Momo flies over to her shoulder and shakes water from his head while she talks. She bats him away. "I mean, I know we did this a couple days ago, but there wasn't anyone around back then. But this time, there are troops stationed not too far away; Sokka pointed them out on our way here, remember?"

Behind the waterbender, her brother takes a dive and winds up belly-flopping in his clumsiness. He whines for a moment over the stinging pain on his skin, but soon gets over it and starts doing breaststrokes.

Aang is floating on his back, Patches the cat sitting rather nervously on his stomach. "Aw, don't fret, Katara. There are walls all the way around us; I'll be totally safe here. No one will see my tattoos." He grins at the cat perched on op of him. "Right, Chibi Zuko?"

"Why do you keep calling him that?" Sokka wonders aloud as he swims near the Avatar. "It's kind of weird, considering the fact that Zuko is, well, the enemy."

"I know, but this little guy looks so much like him," Aang jokes. "I mean, just look at his scar and eye and fur color! It's hilarious how similar the two are!" He laughs as if to prove his point. He pokes the cat in the chest, and rubs him a bit.

'If I weren't inches from deep water and possible drowning, I would scratch you across your cute little face,' Zuko half-hisses, half meows. His ears are flattened in annoyance.

"I guess he doesn't like hearing that," Sokka chuckles as he swims towards Toph, humming ominous music to himself. He's about to pounce when a rock punches him comically in the face.

"Don't bother trying, Snoozles," Toph tells the other cockily. She doesn't open her eyes or move from her lazy pose. "Even without your humming, I can hear you splashing closer. And unless you forgot about the Serpent's Pass, _I can't swim_." She empathizes the phrase like one might emphasize a death warrant. "So dunking is out of the question, bucko."

Meanwhile, Aang is floating closer and closer to the roar of water. "What's that?" he puzzles out loud. He turns his head, and simultaneously, Zuko peers over his shoulder. At the same time, Zuko lets out a terrified squeak and Aang bursts out into giggles. "Wahoo!" he hollers as they both tumble into a smooth, rounded tunnel. They slide down the watery path, Zuko clinging to the arrow-headed boy and the boy cradling him in return. The prince has barely any time to enjoy the secure sensation because his visuals are taking over his mind, along with the dropping, twisting feeling in his gut as they pop out of the hole and fall, fall, fall…

They land with a large _sploosh_ into the pool below, the rush of other waterfalls sounding behind them. "That was fun, eh?" Aang grins in such a broad, bright manner that some of Zuko's tension dissipates and he is able to nod his head. He shakes the water out of his fur, and feels spiky. Aang laughs. "You're so cute," he says. "Now let's go again!"

And he boy leaps with airbending up, up, up, back to the top of the basin and in where his friends are, unaware of two things: one, that his friends even noticed his leaving, and two, that a pair of young, bored guards stationed outside of the body of water had seen him through a telescope. They're currently attempting to get a messenger hawk to the Fire Lord about their great find: the Avatar is alive.

xXxXx

In the afternoon sun, a hawk soars across the sky like a scorch mark on wood, a streak of red-hot color against pale blue and blazing white. Its shadow darkens the land below, and it passes over a forest with a mission on its teeny brain.

But the hawk is intercepted by a vulture, a creature with an ugly, wrinkled face and a bumpy, flaky beak. It ties the poor hawk into knots with rope, and claims the scroll on its back as a prize. It humbly offers the note to the Fire Lord to its owner, a man with an eye tattooed onto his forehead. The paper goes up in smoke.

Princess Azula would be pleased. Her secret failure is still safe. As is her sanity, for now.

xXxXx

"Aang, is it just me, or is that cat around you a lot more often, now?" Toph says with as much clueless innocence in her tone as she can muster. Underneath, she's grinning knowingly. Zuko glares at her with golden cat-eyes, darkly slit in its pupils and keenly aware of her game. And he doesn't like what she's doing. She ignores him, however, and scoots closet to Aang. "He seems to have taken a liking to you."

Zuko grinds his fangs, trying to stop from biting her. He wants to; not hard enough to leave a mark, but he wants to at least make her feel it for a second. He opts to jump into her lap instead, claws extended.

"Ouch!" She hisses, and picks him up by the scruff of his neck. "Why, you –!"

"Don't hurt him, Toph!" Aang protests, and snatches the young feline from her grasp. "You're just jealous because he went from being your cat to being mine," the boy says, and his blind friend sticks her tongue out at him. "Don't mind her, Chibi Zuko. But don't be mean to her, either. She still loves you."

"Yeah, sure," Toph grumbles. A slight flush is on her face. "But I was the one who got him to be around you more in the first place."

"What was that?" Aang says, having not been listening to her half-murmured rant.

"Nothing, Twinkle Toes," she says, brushing it off. She stands up and pats her bottom to get any dirt off of it. "G'night. I think I'm gonna hit the hay early tonight." She fakes a yawn.

"That sounds like a good idea, actually," Sokka remarks smartly as he lays out his reeking sleeping bag. "The sooner we get to sleep, the sooner we can wake and head out. We still have a partial-schedule, you know."

"Yes, yes, O Task Master," Katara says with a roll of her eyes. "Good night, then, everybody. Sleep well."

"And have pleasant dreams," Aang adds with a yawn of his own. "The sun isn't entirely set yet, but swimming earlier really tuckered me out. Let's get some sleep, Kitty." And he curls up on his side around Zuko, with Appa at his back.

But as soon as Aang is dozing, the moon is seconds from rising. Zuko escapes from Aang's protective hold with a hint of dismay. He admits it: Toph is right, he does have some feelings for Aang, because only when the airbender holds him like that does he feel truly content and warm inside. And safe; oddly safe.

The prince hates all the sneaking around; it feels as though it's all he does nowadays. With a contempt sigh, he frowns at himself while he dresses. He hates living like this, and hates himself for agreeing to it, but like his initial thought, living like a fugitive is far worse. He's better off here than in the Earth Kingdom, or even the Fire Nation. Who knows what his life would have been like, had he gone back with Azula? For all he knows, he could feel sicker inside. He could be more angry with himself than he already is, could be further from discovering the difference between right and wrong than he currently is.

For all he knows, he could be playing along with a romantic relationship that would be alive, since his supposed "true love" is among this group, and no other. And if he's truly found that person – the Avatar, of all people – then he would be evermore hateful if things were different than as he is in this moment. Zuko is all too aware of this deep down.

Therefore the prince continues to tolerate the circumstances, cat by day and furry by night. The furry part, though, is the most infuriating to him: it happens to be the bane of his existence, since being only part human is what makes him have to hide himself away every moonrise.

Not much sleep is to be had tonight; Zuko can hear it in the way the members of the Avatar's gang are shifting in their sleeping bags, tossing and turning on the uneven terrain to find peace.

Except the peace – whatever there had been of it – is shattered within an instant as Toph shoots up from the ground, blaringly awake all of a sudden. She utters in an odd tone, "Okay, you guys are going to think that I'm crazy, but it feels like… like there's a metal man walking towards us."

"Wouldn't surprise me," Sokka groans with heavy dread weighing on him. "After Miss Lightning and her huge-ass tank-train-thing, I'm not surprised by anything you sense that likes to keep up from sleeping in the middle of the night."He flops back down for a moment, hollers in frustration into his pillow, and then starts packing up while Aang rubs his eyes and glances towards something reflecting the moonlight.

"Huh?" Aang yawns, but just as his eyes focus on the figure standing atop the cliff above them, he releases a terrified yell. He clambers up onto his feet and scrambles away, just as a fire blast strikes the ground for who-knows-where, because there hadn't seemed to be any bending having occurred.

Quick as a lizard across hot sand, Toph is on her feet and attacking, as is Katara. Aang swoops down to tell them to get on Appa and head on out while he distracts the unknown invader.

Zuko's heart skips a beat in panic. Aang is going to lure the big-baddie away by himself? Zuko refuses to allow it. He leaps out of nowhere – at least, what constitutes as nowhere in Aang's mind – and pushes Aang out of the way of an explosion.

All Aang sees is a figured cloaked from head to toe in fabric, like a ninja. He gasps in surprise, but doesn' think much about the stranger finding him, only caring that this person is clearly on his side and trying to save his life.

Gratuitous amounts of fire is exchanged, and Aang has to leap between boulder-towers as tall as mansions in order to avoid the heat coming from the metal-limbed man who attacked initially. The stranger is clearly a firebender, but a good one, because he tams up with Aang and the boy's earthbending to render the attacker temporarily motionless beneath an avalanche of heated stone. The man breaks free of it with an explosion, naturally, but by this time, the two teenage boys are flying through the air.

Appa catches them on his saddle, with Sokka at the reins. Katara touches Aang's face, inspecting it for injuries. "Are you alright?" she asks.

"I'm fine, thanks to this guy," Aang says, turning to the cloaked boy who is sitting with them on Appa, his rear perched on his ankles, his hands fisting the fabric at the knees of his pants. "I guess we have no choice; we have to take im with us tonight, or else that exploding guy down there might kill him, like he tried to kill us. But I wonder: who are you, Stranger?"

Zuko fidgets nervously. He can tell by the way that Toph is glancing sideways at him that she realizes precisely what's going on. She bites her cuticles and glances away, finally. Zuko inhales sharply, then breathes out, "My name is…" He hesitates; he can't use his fugitive name again. "Riku."

"Riku?" Katara frowns. "That's a funny name."

"It was pretty common a hundred years ago," Aang shrugs. "Kuzon's older cousin was named Riku. Met him once. He was kind of stuck-up and cocky, but really fun to play pranks on." The boy grins mischievously. "Anyway, if you haven't already noticed by my forehead, Riku, I'm the Avatar. But I think it's safe to tell you, since you protected me a moment ago."

Zuko nods meekly. "I already knew that you were the Avatar; that's why I protected you in the first place."

"Hey, wait a minute," Kaatra says, her brow muscles puckered. "I… I recognize that voice."

The ex-prince tenses, and he absentmindedly brings his hand up to tighten the fabric around his left eye, hoping that it's well-hidden. _She doesn't know it's me, does she? I pray to Agni that she doesn't, _he thinks wildly. His heart race speeds up a smidgen from anxiety.

"Yeah, I do know it! You're that boy who helped me when I was The Painted Lady! How did you find us again?" she wants to know. She jokingly narrows her eyes and points an accusatory finger at him. "Have you been stalking us, Riku?"

The firebender gulps, but sighs out of relief. She doesn't know that he's Prince Zuko after all. He explains lowly, "Sort of. To be honest, I've been keeping an eye on you to make sure that you don't get caught. You could say that I've been… meaning to join your group, but wasn't sure if you'd let me, since I'm…" He searches constantly for the proper words, but can't seem to grasp them. He lets his voice drift off, and he stares down at his legs in the moonlight. His tail is cramped underneath him, itching to be free, but he knows that only problems would arouse at the sight of the appendage.

"I don't know whether that can be considered 'kind' or 'creepy,'" Sokka half-jokes, half-states seriously. He shrugs with a yawn. "But if you're all fr helping us, then I don't care if you stick with the group."

"I shouldn't," Zuko says immediately, with a quick look at Aang. A small blush coats his cheeks, but luckily it's too dark for the betrayal of his blood vessels to be seen. He coughs into his hand to clear his throat. "I mean… you hardly know me."

"We hardly knew Toph at first, but she's like family now," Aang supplies as an answer, and to prove it, brings Toph's shoulders under his arm for a partial embrace. As he releases her, he says, "So if you give us the chance, we can get to know you better, too. Plus, I saw you firebend! And even though I messed up the first time I tried, I think, with the proper teacher, I could try firebending again. I need to, if I want to face the Fire Lord during the eclipse." He scowls as he says this last part, a dark aura etching into his brows like a personal storm cloud.

Zuko shifts uneasily. He knows why he can't join them: during the day, it would appear as though he had vanished, because he would be reduced to the cat they've come to know and care for. It simply wouldn't work out. But if he were to keep reappearing to assist them here and there… he could accomplish part of his vow to himself to get Aang to fall in love with him, bit by bit. And when they finally trust him, he can reveal himself as he true self, and perhaps they will be completely accepting after all of the good things he will have done.

A small smile touches his lips. Sounds like a plan. "Thank you, but I think I'll have to pass. I'll keep to popping up when you need me most. It's my way, and all I know."

"Speaking of what you know," Sokka says strictly, "You know a lot about us. And you obviously know firebending, and I see a sword strapped to your back. How do we know we can trust you?"

Actually, it was two swords – twin blades – but they are put into one sheath. The misunderstanding at least helps save Zuko from further distrust.

"Oh, Sokka, why are you always so suspicious?" Katara retorts. "Clearly he means us no harm if he consistently helps us out."

"Besides," Zuko puts in to help cover his ass, "This sword is only a momento. I don't now how to use it. It was my older brother's; he died in this war, and it's all I have left of him. I keep his sword with me to remind me of why I want to help the Avatar to end the war that has murdered and wounded so many people."

The lie, unlike most of Zuko's, comes relatively smoothly and without pause. Toph, though, can spot that it's a lie. His heart gives him away. No one else can tell, so she doesn't say anything.

"Oh," Sokka says softly. "I'm sorry. I didn't know."

"It's alright," Zuko mutters.

"That's so sweet," Katara gushes, "I would totally do that, too. Hear that, Sokka? If you were to die, I would steal your space sword and keep it with me always, to remember you by." And if he weren't driving Appa at the moment, she would accent her statement with a pinch to his cheek.

Sokka's face breaks out into a grin. "Nope, I wouldn't let you; I would have it buried with me. This baby," he pats it on his hip, "Is special to me. I made it myself, remember? It's like I'm bonded to it."

For the first time since being rudely awakened, Toph's voice pipes up above the others' laughter. "Just like how that fake beard was bonded to your face?" she says. Naturally the only thing she has to say is another sassy remark. Zuko smiles.

Sokka takes no offense to the comment. Instead, he chuckles. "Yep, just like that beard."

"Poor Riku doesn't know what you're talking about," Katara says. "He must think we're crazy."

"No, I do know," the boy in question replies before he thinks about it. "I was at that dance you threw. He was wearing it then."

The group, save for Toph, stares at him in wonder.

Zuko rubs the back of his neck in embarrassment and murmurs, "Er, sorry. It's just… that's when I first noticed. Uh. That the Avatar was in the Fire Nation. I… went to the school he showed up in, and could tell that he was more than just a foreign colonial by the way he acted."

The lies just keep coming and coming. Zuko feels fuzzy from them, as if he were weaving a web and it was getting tangled in his eyes.

"Really?" Katara says at the same time that Aang exclaims, "Oh!!"

"What is it, Aang?" Toph asks.

"I… I almost danced with you!" Aang smiles brightly, and for a second, Zuko is able to hold the boy's charming gaze, silver from the moonlight. "I remember you now! That's funny, how you keep showing up. You must really care about ending this war."

"I do," Zuko says automatically, and without realizing it until a few seconds later, he understands that he means it. He hadn't known what to do with himself, but now he knows: he needs to help Aang end this war and restore balance to the world. And he can do it by being Riku, a firebending stranger with multiple wrappings to cover his "deformities" and a sword from his brother on his back.

"Great," Aang says, practically giddy. "It's always nice to make a new ally, and friend. But you owe me a dance."

Zuko blinks twice, but he finds himself nodding his head once.


	10. Chapter X

**A/N: This one took a while, ne? And the word count is back up in the 7,000s. Don't ask me how. XD**

**Anyway, I can't wait to write the next chapter! I get to use 'The Runaway,' which is my favorite episode of the first half of season three. My favorite of the second half of season three (I'm not counting the specials, The Day Of Black Sun and the Finale, because those are special. I'm only counting "filler" episodes, you might call them, although every episode is important) is obviously 'Fire Bending Masters.' Hellz yeah, you know why. #heart#**

**Small side note: you might say that there are a few teeny-tiny hints of Rozin (RokuXSozin) in this chapter, but not much, not really. Only if you specifically search for it, I suppose. But there definitely are hints about Roku knowing all about kitty!Zuko. But that's because he's in on it, too. Yue convinced him, you could say. ;D  
**

* * *

Chapter X

In the morning, the stranger who called himself Riku had gone missing, just as he said he would.

But Katara isn't disappointed, honest. She doesn't mind at all.

She looks around the campsite the formed just hours before dawn, at her pack of friends. Toph is sprawled out on the group like always; Sokka is curled up like an inchworm in his sleeping bag; Aang is snoozing on Appa's tail. Momo and Patches – since when did that cat get on Appa last night? Katara must not have noticed, just like how she hadn't noticed Momo, but then again, the tiny lemur _could _fly – are sleeping near Aang.

She smiles to herself as she begins making breakfast, which won't be ready until the others wake. The sun is up, but not high, which promises another hour before the others will bother to wake. She has time. How would they feel about creamed wheat? They got some milk and wheat from Pinandao, who was more than happy to provide the Avatar and his friends with supplies. It would be a treat to make it, but today seems like just as good a day as any…

The waterbender busies herself with gathering up the meal and beginning to prepare it and sweeten it, being careful to stir often to keep it from lumping. Sokka hates lumps in his food, which is why he rarely eats chicken dumpling soup, although he still enjoys sea prunes. But sea prunes are every water tribesman's favorite, so she supposes that those lumps don't count.

Her thoughts dabble in other pointless things whilst she fixes breakfast and waits in the silence for the others. Although she notices out of the corner of her eye one tossing and turning airbender.

xXxXx

"Aang," the spirit of the previous Avatar beckons through flames and smoke to the aforementioned boy, "It's time you learned my history with Fire Lord Sozin."

The boy – his dream-self much different than his current self – stares in awe, his brows lifting and his lips parting. Sozin… he's the man who used a comet to officially start a war. He's the man who named said comet after himself, and purposely wiped out the air nomads, since he knew that the next Avatar would be among them. He's the man who, despite being dead, Aang fears the most in the world next to the man's grandson, Ozai.

"You need to understand how the war began, if you want to know how to end it," Roku goes on to explain. "Meet me on my home island, on the day of the summer solstice." A vision of the island appears in Aang's mind's eye as Roku says this.

Then, the dream fades as elusively as a wisp of smoke. The glow of fire embers in the early morning dawn light Aang's frowning face. "Okay, Roku," he sighs in his sleep, "If you say so."

xXxXx

"So where are we going, now?" Sokka inquires around a happy slurp of creamed wheat, sweet and delicious.

"To Avatar Roku's home," Aang explains as he, to, eats the breakfast he woke up smelling. "He wants to explain to me about his past. Specifically, his past with Fore Lord Sozin. I'll tell you guys about what I learn as soon as I'm done. I'm going to have to go into the Spirit World for this one."

"Hmm. Sounds weird," Toph says with a wrinkle of her nose. She licks her fingers of sticky grains. "I mean, why would he want you to learn about some scary old guy that tried to ruin the world?"

"I don't know his reasons, but I trust him," Aang says swiftly. "It must be important."

"Let's hope you're right," Sokka sighs, "Because his might set us back a day to catch up with –"

"Shut up about your stupid schedule, will you?" Toph grumbles. She's cranky for having to wake up earlier than she normaly likes. "We already abandoned it, I thought."

"Yeah, well. You can never be too careful. We don't want to let anybody down," Sokka points out.

His sister nods and defends his viewpoint. "Sokka's right. But we should be fine; we're closer now, since we flew most of the night to escape that crazy guy. Do you think he was a bounty hunter?"

"I know he was," Sokka mumbles coldly. "We're always getting people like that chasing after us."

After breakfast, the group hops onto Appa, and while they fly, Aang bends a cloud around them as a disguise from the small villages they pass along the way. "There it is!" Aang says after a while. "That's Avatar Roku's home."

They land, and jump of of Appa one at a time. They find a barren landscape, covered in long-since hardened lava.

"But… there's nothing here," Katara states, puzzled.

Toph is the last to jump down. As her feet connect with the black earth and the vibrations give her a layout of the small piece of land, her tone turns grave. "…Yes, there is. An entire village… hundreds of houses… all completely buried in ash."

Aang's eyes turn steely grey with a note of sorrow. Did people die? How many?

The tragedy parallels another world, one without bending: a world where an entire city by the name of Pompeii was smothered and mummified in ash and some lava, preserving and mutilating hundreds of souls. Did the same happen here, in this world, where there is bending?

But this is the Fire Nation. Surely some firebenders bent the molten, red-hot rock into the sea, where it could do no harm… right?

"Let's find a place where the summer solstice sun will hit the best," Aang says abruptly. At his feet, a small cat gazes up at him and thinks about the facial expression it had seen on the boy's face moments ago.

They find a spot: on a small cliff jutting out above what used to be a shore, and overlooking the sun on the horizon. Aang takes a moment to admire the beauty of the pinks and oranges and soft purples before closing his eyes, ultimately shutting out the world. He is in a meditative pose, and within second, Roku arrives upon his dragon in the Spirit World.

"Come, Aang."

Aang takes his past self's hand. He climbs onto the winged beast, a creature as crimson as blood-rubies, as warm as fire, even in this world.

"Where are we going, exactly?"

"To the past," Roku replies. "Our shared past," he adds with a small smile. Aang grins with hearty enthusiasm and great interest in return.

And the journey through the past begins.

xXxXx

They fly into a memory like one might fly into a painting: the image is still at first, the colors softened, and then, as soon as some sort of barrier is passed by, the memory becomes vivid. The people are fleshed out, the plants move in a breeze that can be seen and not felt, and sounds can be heard. Movement can be witnessed as plain as if it were actually occurring in the present.

But this is only ghosts, replicas of what did happen; Aang is here, and he can feel the fondness of the memory radiating through him, as projected by Roku, but he cannot touch or smell or do much of anything but watch, and listen intently.

Like a movie in another world without bending. Like how a memory could be, if one could revisit it at any given time, reliving it through the barest of senses: emotion, sight, sound.

In this irst memory, there are two teenagers sparring. They appear to be no older than Sokka, or Zuko. Fifteen at the least, seventeen at the most. They are in a courtyard in the royal palace, with greenery nearby. Lames spit out here and there, but it is only play. The sparring is hardly meant to be painful, or teaching; just fun.

Through the dim, Aang can almost hear a voice. Another voice, a different one that is neither his nor Roku's. The voice is thin and wavering through time and space, and only catches the edge of Aang's ear, barely making a mark or registering in his mind.

_As I feel my life dimming, I can't help but think of a time when everything was… so much _brighter._ I remember my friend. _

One of the boys sparring stumbles on a tree branch, but his friend catches him with a hook of the legs, before dropping him. The boy who broke the others' fall is wearing a crown ornament in his hair; the same one, Aang notices with a peek to his left, that Roku wears in his hair now. Is that Roku when he was young?

No, it isn't. Because the boy with the crown says, "Looks like I win again, Roku."

The other on the ground replies with a raspy voice, "Are you kidding? The tree root did all the work," the boy jokes. His friend offers a hand, and the boy gets to his feet. "Nice one, Sozin." There is fondness in his voice.

Aang stares, both perplexed and amazed at the same time. "You were friends with Fire Lord Sozin?!" the tattooed boy exclaims.

Roku looks amused. "Back then, he was only _Prince_ Sozin; and he was my best friend." He stresses the word 'best friend,' because it's truer than Roku would like to admit.

The two boys walk out o the courtyard under an arch, just as a young girl about their age passes by, and blushes faintly. The teenage Roku sighs and blushes as well. Sozin nudges him, encouraging him to say something to the girl he likes. But Roku can't; he's too shy. He flops down onto his back on the grass, defeated. Smiling, Sozin sits beside him and piles grass on Roku's face teasingly.

"Love is hard," the older Roku remarks softly in narration, "When you are young." There is a hint of regret in his tone that Aang doesn't miss. He wonders about it, but he finds himself talking.

"You don't need to tell me," Aang comments passively. He learned that with Katara, before. But now he doesn't think about it much anymore; he thinks about what lies ahead, with the end of the war and his responsibility to make it happen.

"It gets better," Roku says gently. He takes Aang by the shoulder and turns him around as they walk into another still-photograph, one that livens up as he speaks. "We have a party to attend."

"Wait, whose party is this?" Aang asks as he inspects the pumpkin-orange laterns hanging along strings from the ceiling, and countless guests awaiting two young men who walk out from behind a curtain together. They are slightly older than they were in the previous memory.

"Sozin and I shared many things," Roku says warmly, "Including a birthday. We are turning sixteen here. And what would happen when I turn sixteen, Aang?"

Realization strikes the arrow-headed boy like a pebble flicked to the forehead. He barely needs to think about it as he replies, "You're announced as the new Avatar!" he half-shouts in order to hear himself over the slowly quieting roar of the crowd. The monks of his time hadn't waited until Aang turned sixteen; they feared the war, and the outcome, and so on. They told him when he was still just a child and too young for such knowledge; when he was merely twelve.

Sozins face melts from a glowing smile to a worried frown upon seeing the Fire Sages. "Has something happened to my father?" he inquires.

"No, Prince Sozin," the leader replies gently, "We are not here for you. We are here to announce the identity of the next Avatar." He pauses in prominence, allowing the crowd to build their own conclusions before he bows and gives away the secret, easing all tension. "It is an honor to serve you… Avatar Roku."

In this very moment, Aang can feel a ghost of a sensation: frozen, open-mouthed shock; and, following it, a stab of pain akin to loss. The teenage Roku knew what he would have to give up, in order to be the Avatar, just as Aang had. Because of this, the young boy watching the memory can relate all too well. He knows, however, that unlike himself, Roku will not run.

Thinking better of himself at the last second, Sozin also bows, and then it's too much for Roku. The teen Shuts his eyes, shakes his head, and turns and dashes back into the palace. He is not running, no; never running, because running away from problems is wrong. He's just… moving from the crowd and his friend – whom is royalty, and shouldn't have to bow to others thus – simply to think and absorb. That's all.

As the memory shifts into another as Roku takes Aang by the elbow and leads him out of this one, Aang hears that other voice again, and it is no louder, no softer, just the same level of thinness, like a wisp of smoke after a candle is blown out.

_So then day came when my friend Roku had to leave the Fire Nation and face his destiny as the Avatar. He needed to travel the world so that he could master the other elements._

The next memory is that of a man – no, not yet, despite his age; he is too fragile-looking in his gloom to be a man. A child, then – sitting on the edge of his bed, his possessions partially packed into his stravel bag behind him. He is staring at the floor, thinking.

A voice sounds from the door as a figure leans against the frame, a forced half-smile on its lips. "Hey," the voice says, and at first, Roku does not look up at its speaker. "Why are you not packed yet, O Mighty Avatar?"

When he gets no response, he shuts his eyes and frowns, for a second thinking about what he can do to cheer his best, dearest friend up. He leaps forward, and does a couple funny moves in mock-bending of the other elements.

"Come on, show me how it's done, doing all four kinds of bending!"

Roku glances upwards; he isn't amused. Looking away again, he says slowly, "I started packed, but then the Sages told me that I wouldn't need world possessions anymore."

"Oh," Sozin replies curtly, and drops his act to sit beside his friend.

"It all happened so fast," the teenage Roku is saying, and Aang crouches down to hug his own knees. He knows how that feels, too. "Everything's going to be different now." There is a pang of despair in his tone, as if he can see into the future.

Sozin takes the pin out of his crown, and slips it off his bun. He lays the pin on his palm beside it and offers it up between them. "Here. I hope you're at least allowed to have this." There is genuine kindness in his voice. Except… there is also a hint of sorrow.

Roku protests with a link of wide eyes. "But… this is a royal artifact! It's supposed to be worn by the crown-Prince!"

"I want you to have it," Sozin says firmly, sticking to his decision.

Roku smiles for the first time in this memory, and after placing the object in his hair – one he wears even now, as a spirit – he stands and bows to his friend in respect, and his friend does the same. If it had been Aang in the same situation, he would have embraced the other person. He silently wonders why Roku did now embrace Sozin; was it out of courtesy, since Fire Nation folk are so prim and proper? Or is it because he was afraid some of the feelings of affection Aang could merely feel shadows of when viewing this memory?

Either way, the memory is fading, and they are soon walking away to visit another. The voice can be heard again, and Aang understands now that is it Sozin's, from a memoir of some sort.

_I was sorry to see him go. I selfishly wanted him to stay, but I knew better. It is not something one person can change, the reincarnation of the Avatar; but deep down inside, I wished that the Avatar spirit had chosen a different body, one of another person who was not Roku, not my friend, and therefore unable to hurt me like this. When, I wondered, would I see my friend again?_

They climb aboard the dragon once more, and as they fly, Aang notices where they are headed. He grins widely. "Hey! We're headed towards the Southern Air Temple!" His home.

"It was the first stop on my journey. It was where I was to master airbending," Rolu explains with a lighter-hearted tone than before. "It is also where I met an old friend of yours," he goes on to say as they watch a line of benders – dressed no different than Aang is now in the Spirit World, decked out in orange and yellow – stand on a cliff-side, waiting to jump off and glide. Aang can pick Roku easily out of the crowd: his head is the only one that s not balded. "Monk Gyatso."

A bald boy bends air in Roku's face, and then laughs, his eyes merry and the same color as Gyatso's, although not nearly half as dull, in that tired-looking way old men's eyes get. This boy is also the first to step up to the edge and go soaring off, encoruing the others to join him.

"No way!" Aang says, disbelieving, because this was over a hundred years ago. But it made sense: Gyatso was very old, one of the oldest, and was that way when Aang was born. And Aang was orn and given a soul just as Roku would have died, which must be one of these memories somewhere. Aang doesn't want to see that memory, though. Like all death, he fears witnessing it.

The groups of airbenders fly around; Roku tries to impress with a glider trick of his, but Gyatso outdoes him by surfing on the air, his feet on the spine of his glider. He wobbles and flails his arms for balance, and ultimately falls, but Roku catches him on the back of his own glider.

Aang laughs. "He's air surfing! Now, why didn't I think of that?" But it is pretty dangerous, so that's probably why. Despite appearances, Aang is a relatively cautious person. He smiles, though, because even as the two crash, they're happy and Gyatso is playfully bending Roku's hair out of his face again. "That's amazing! You were friends with Monk Gyatso just like I was."

"Some friendships are so strong that they can even transcend lifetimes," Roku explains with a joyous tone added to his voice. He truly believes this, and Aang believes it now, too.

They watch in a sequence of trial and error as Roku learns waterbending – his opposite, like earth to Aang, and therefore difficult – and finally, earthbending. The teacher he had reminded Aang strangely of Toph, and they, too, were friends, which makes Aang wonder if Toph is this man's reincarnation. It wouldn't surprise him, considering how tough and boyish she can be. But he loves her all the same, like he does his other friends.

And Aang watches as Roku bends all four, the results of training for years (of which Aang has had to cram into months) paying off in the end.

But then the voice is heard again, and Aang begins to wonder why he can hear it and Roku seemingly cannot. Is some other spirit making him hear it, like a ghost from the past brought to Aang's ears, for him to hear and him alone?

_Twelve long years passed before I saw my friend again. When Roku returned… he was a fully realized Avatar. And I had changed as well. _

The scene cuts as they fly back to the Fire Nation, peering in throne room of the palace. Roku is walking in as a man now, young and sturdy and bearded. Sozin is seated at the throne, looking regal and powerful.

"Sozin! – Or should I say, 'Fire Lord'?" Roku greets with open arms.

"Customarily, my subjects bow before greeting me," Sozin says, his tone stiff.

Roku stops walking, looking taken aback.

"…Buy you're the exception," Sozin smiles as he steps down from the throne, definitely shorter than his Avatar friend, but glad to see him nonetheless. He spreads his arms to hug his friend, the first he has done so during these flashbacks.

"Even after all these years," Roku murmurs beside Aang with an odd tone, "He was still my best friend. And a few months later," Roku adds as the scene blurs and another still-image appears, and like diving into a painting, it comes into life as they pass through it like the others, "He was my best man."

It is a wedding of the Fire Nation sort, with glowing lights like orbs of magic charms, and people as delighted as koi swimming in a pond. The bride is a beautiful woman with a mole by her eye, and eyes as creamy and brown as melted chocolate.

"Roku!" Aang says as he recognizes the woman, "It's that girl who didn't know you were alive!" His eyes sparkle, because she reminds him of Katara. It's sweet, but it feels strange, because he can't see himself in this position: getting married to a childhood crush. This is much stronger than what he has now. Much, much stronger.

"Ta Min," Roku replies fondly, recalling her name. He grins. "I was persistant." He pauses, then says, "When love is real, it finds a way. And being the Avatar doesn't hurt your chances at love, either, Aang. Your time will come to you, and in… the most unexpected of ways." He winks, and Aang is bewildered, but doesn't comment on it.

Sozin is speaking again. _On Wedding days, we look to the future with optimism and joy. I had my own vision for a brighter future._

The reception dinner following the ceremony takes place, but Sozin steps over to his friend, Aang notices, and whispers something discreetly to Ta Min. "May I borrow him for a moment?"

She smiles. "It's not very tradition, but okay." 'He is the Fire Lord, after all; how can I deny his request?' her face seems to say.

The two friends walk towards the balcony of the palace, which overlooks the capital and the ocean. Aang witnesses ach movement and captures ach word in total silence. He can nearly taste the tension and foreboding laced in the wind current of the memory.

"What's on your mind?" the young, still naïve Roku asks.

His friend, the leader of a nation, answers immediately. His tone is stern and his words are swift, and he refuses to look Roku in the eye. His face tells Aang that he expects Roku's reaction, but voices his thoughts anyhow. "I've been thinking hard about the state of the world lately."

"Sozin, it's my wedding!" Roku says brightly, and slaps his hand down on Sozin's shoulder in a friendly gesture. "Have a cookie; dance with somebody! Lighten up."

"I know, I know," Sozin says with a slightly smile, but Aang can tell when a smile is deceptive, because his own are the same way sometimes. "But hear me out, alright?" he requests, and Roku nods. He turns toward the sunset again; the beautiful, colorful, impossibly picturesque sunset. "From the start, I know that I was destine to be Fire Lord. And although we didn't always know it, you were destined to be the Avatar." Briefly, Aang thinks of Zuko and himself, ut he can't think of why. "It's an amazing stroke of Fate that we know each other so well, isn't it? Together we could do… anything!"

The young Roku is no so naïve, however. His smile tilts downwards just a hair. "Yeah… we could…" he says carefully, and waits to see where this conversation progresses to next.

"Our nation is enjoying a time of unprecedented peace and wealth; our people are happy. They are so fortunate is so many ways."

Roku hesitates before saying, "Where are you going with this?"

"I've been thinking: we should share this prosperity with the rest of the world. In our hands, we could create the most successful empire in history! It's time we expanded it."

"No!" Roku says, his initial gut reaction throwing the words out of his mouth like flames from a dragon's throat. He casts his hand to the side forcefully, as if he would push away the thought of taking over other nations in other parts of the world. "The four nations are meant to be just that: _four._"

"Roku," Sozin tries to persuade, his smile ever-present. A shiver runs down Aang's spine. The power has gone to his head, the boy realizes. Sozin is cloaking his hunger for power by means of spreading the Fire Nation's inclined economy with the world. But a dictator is still a dictator. Aang's mind shushes itself while Sozin continues to speak in the memory: "You haven't even stopped to consider the _possibilities._"

Roku remains firm in his standing viewpoint. Not just as the Avatar, but as a man of pure morals. "There are no possibilities. This is the last I want to hear about this!" And he turns and walks away, storming back to what used to be a happy day.

Aang is thrown back onto Roku's dragon, and they soar towards another memory, one in which they spot a much older Roku flying atop his crimson pet towards the Earth Kingdom. Except he finds that Sozin has already gone ahead with his plans.

The scene cuts sharply like the blade of a knife to a new memory, one of Roku calling Sozin out on his actions. He bursts through the palace doors, unannounced, and in a furiously heated windstorm. "I have seen the colonies, Sozin. How _dare_ you occupy Earth Kingdom territory!"

Sozin is dark, a silhouette against low-burning candles set ablaze. "And how dare _you,_ a citizen of the Fire Nation, address your Fire Lord this way." He pauses for a split second, as if wanting to take it back. But then, he says with a tone Aang can only imagine Ozai using, "Your loyalty lies to your nation first. Anything less makes you a traitor."

Roku clenches his hands into fists, and grinds his teeth a little. "Don't do this, Sozin," Roku comes close to growling, "_Don't _challenge me. It will only end badly." Four elements against one, after all, Aang vaguely thinks to himself. Then, in a low voice, Roku says, "It's over." And he begins to walk.

Aang isn't entirely sure what Roku means y that last remark. It could mean, 'Your rein oover other nations has come to an end.' Or he could have meant, 'Our friendship has come to an end.' And yet still, the phrase could mean, 'This plan of yours is done with, and shall never come up again.'

In a way, Aang thinks that Roku meant all three.

As Roku walks away, Sozin scowls and leaps off of his throne with a roar, blasting the largest wave of fire Aang has ever seen in his life thus far.

A short battle ensues, in which the room is destroyed, Sozin is literally left hanging, and Roku has won.

The spirit Roku, unlike earlier, is now appearing tired and regretful and sorry, so very sorry that it had to be that way, had to happen like such, and that he can't change how it effects the coming flashback.

Because next they are taken further ahead into the past, which is a memory that is much closer to the present. And it takes place twenty-five long, sad years following the battle; two and a half decades without sight or sound from the other. Roku without Sozin, Sozin without Roku. Aang could feel the ache between them, the rift of friendship from war-torn sides, even if the war Aang knows now had not yet officially broken out. But between them and their opinions on things, the war _had_ begun.

Suddenly, in this memory – in which Roku is very old and resembles his current spirit-self, which makes Aang think and fear that this is indeed the final memory he shall see – Roku is thrown rom his bed in the middle of the night by an earthquake.

He rushes outside as balls of fire shoot down from the heavens.

The volcano, one of two that the land is composed of, is erupting.

Aang can only watch in wordless horror as the entire thing plays out, Roku narrating for him since his past-self is unable to say much.

Roku battles against the smoke and lava, bending what and when he can. Aang watches in fascination. He hears Sozin's voice, and can picture him with hands flat on the stone balcony, watching a small orange glow amidst the ocean's horizon:

_Roku's island was one hundred miles away; but I could still feel it rumbling. I could see the black plume of smoke. I've never seen anything quite like this catastrophe._

A shiver runs down Aang's spine. After a while, he finally finds his voice, after he watches the people float offshore on boats and Roku conquerers some of the volcano's violent actions. Astounded, he tells his incarnation's spirit, "This is amazing, Roku! You're batling a volcano… and winning! You're doing much better than I had once, and on a much larger scale. It's impressive."

The spirit-Roku shakes his head. "Unfortunately, my success didn't last, Aang. There was no way I could do it all." And just as he says this, a tidal wave of lava coming flowing down the side of the volcano.

He tries anyway. He continues to battle the elements of nature, but he does it, the spirit says, while he can barely breathe. The toxic gases, the overwhelming heat (even for a natural-born firebender)… it became great to bear.

And once Roku makes a second opening for the lava of the main volcano on its opposite side, the second volcano in the memory also erupts, and the past-Roku gets a defeated look on his posture.

"Need a hand, old friend?" a voice says, and past-Roku – as well as Aang – is shocked to see Sozin riding his own dragon, a blue one, just meters away from where Roku stands.

"Sozin?!" For a moment lasting a breath, Aang can see the hope spring into Roku's tired, old eyes. He never looked so small and human as he does when he turns to face his friend/foe, the smoke and cinders and magma shimmering behind him.

"There's not a moment to waste," the Fire Lord says, and Aang starts to believe that there is hope yet.

Together, moving like clockwork, they try to calm the volcano enough to save the people on boats below, and themselves. Except all is not going well. Just as Roku tells Sozin to beware, and not breathe in the poisonous fumes from the vents being cracked open, he gets a rush of one directly in his face.

Aang can see/feel/_remember_ Roku's strength, what little he has left of it, exit his body. His vision blurs, and he drops to his knees. He coughs, hacking the cough of the terminally ill, and utters in an unhealthy rasp, "It's… too… much!" Like any other memory, Aang can pungently recall the the taste of blood in the back of his – Roku's – throat. The flavor of death.

The young airbender can barely contain his tears as he watches Roku shakily hold up a hand and murmur 'please.' He is able to keep the tears from flowing in the end, because in the Spirit World he has no tear ducts, but he feels the sadness, disappointment, and all-around _crushing_ sensations nonetheless.

Sozin's reply is what nearly gave Aang over to tears. Aang can see it in his eyes, those cold, gold eyes, as Sozin changes his mind about something. "Without you, all my plans are suddenly possible." His aura is dark, darker than Zuko's has ever been; it reminds Aang of Azula, and how he pictures Ozai. "I have a vision for the future, Roku," Sozin is saying, and Aang both wants to yell at the flashback-Sozin and weep for the fallen hopes of his previous self. He can sense Roku's own anger and pain.

Roku coughs, and as Sozin boards his dragon and flies off of the island, Aang casts his gaze to the ocean and shuts his eyes as tightly as he can. A large avalanche of thick, charcoal ash and dust and smoke come hurtling down, and Feng the dragon curls around Roku like Appa had in the ice, and Roku's final heartbeat sounds in Aang's ears just as clearly as if he had been dwelling in the memory-Roku's body.

When Aang opens his eyes again, he hears a baby crying. The light is bright compared to the shadows of the night in the previous memory. The light is very yellow and familiar, the hue like puffs of dandelion pollen in the summer air.

In the flashback, Aang recalls the smell fruit pies.

Grey eyes of the infant smile and blink, and a tuft of mousy brown hair rests atop its chubby little head. Aang is pulled from the grief of the previous memory and into the dawn of realization. "Who's…? Wait. That's _me,_ isn't it?"

Roku turns to the boy and says his final words before sending him back to his friends in the Human World. "Make sense of our past, connect it to your present, and restore balance to the world for the future, Aang. And remember what these memories have taught you." Always in riddles.

"But why show me this, Roku? Why?"

"Because," Roku says, his voice wearing as thin as the air on the peak of a mountain, "Who rules the Fire Nation now? – The grandson of Sozin. But who will rule it later? – The great-grandson of Sozin, but also the great-grandson… of me."

And then the old man vanishes.

"Roku? I don't understand!" Aang questions, but he, too, can feel himself fading. "Roku!"

_With Roku gone and the great comet returning, the timing was perfect to change the world. I knew the next Avatar would be born an Air Nomad, so I wiped out the Air Temples. But somehow the Avatar eluded me. I wasted the remainder of my life searching in vain. I know he's hiding out there, somewhere. The Fire Nation's greatest threat: the last airbender. _

xXxXx

The first thing Aang thought as he returned to what might be called consciousness is this: Sozin was wrong about how to change the world, but he was right about one thing; and that's the fact that with the comet returning, the timing couldn't be more perfect to fix things. Because if nothing happens before the comet comes… then afterward, the world might be in worse shape than it has been in the past.

Aang yanks himself from his thoughts as his friends approach him, and ask him how it went.

He tells each of them as they gather in a circle around him the story of two people: Roku and Sozin, good and evil, friendship and conflict. As he tells them, he understands what Roku had meant, and the meaning becomes clear. All meanings, starting with the meaning of his final remark about heritage.

The cat, unlike the lemur and the bison, listens very carefully. "When he told me that, I didn't get it, but I understand now: he meant Zuko. Zuko's father's grandfather was Sozin. But that must mean that Zuko's mother's grandfather… was Roku. That's why, I think, he's so troubled. It's because of all the strife born into him from the two bloodlines of an Avatar and a dictator."

"But Aang," Katara counters, "Even after Roku showed Sozin mercy, he betrayed him!"

"…It's like these people are_ born_ bad," Toph mutters, trying to sort out her thoughts.

"No, that's wrong; I don't think that was the point of what Roku showed me at all."

Sokka speaks up. "Then what was the point?" he poses with a shrug.

"Roku was just as much Fire Nation as Sozin was, right? If anything," Aang says, a smile beginning to form on his lips, "Their story proves that anyone is capable of great good or great evil – anyone, even Zuko, and Azula, and Ozai, and so on. Everyone in the Fire Nation needs to be given a chance, second or otherwise. And," he says around a short pause, "I also think it was about friendships."

Aang is confident now, although he isn't sure what about. But he feels as though he accomplished something, or overcame some hurdle. As if he accepted the Fire Nation, despite their wrongdoings. As if he accepted Zuko and Azula and Ozai as people, not demons.

The blind girl bends down to scoop up Zuko, whom is stunned into silence. She cradles nuzzles his fur for a moment during the lack of sound, and sets him down again. Toph's voice wavers as she inquires, "Do you really think friendships can last more than one lifetime?" The idea seems foreign to her, but not impossible, and definitely inviting.

The airbender's smile grows larger and affectionate as he steps closer to her, taking her hand in his. She flushes a little and smiles while Aang tells her, "I don't see why not."

And then they all hold hands, and Momo and Appa come closer to be part of the group. All save for Zuko, whom is slowly backing away, too lost in thought to want to be around the others.

He crawls, slinking lowly to the ground, and crouches down with his tail twittering back and forth, back and forth. He shivers, not because it's chilly – it's summer, after all – but out of spiritual connection. He sees it clearly now: why he is destined to love Aang, why he doesn't mind that destiny forced him down this path, and why he loves Aang in the first place. But not how; he doesn't see how it started, or how he should go about his fully formed feelings, but he knows enough.

The firebender knows that he loves Aang despite their ancestry; he doesn't mind because it feels right and feels like it's his choice; and he loves Aang because of who the boy is, in mind and body and soul, the airbender's personality being as bright as stars.

And so, Zuko makes another decision, which earns him one step closer to solving his problem: he decides that, during the eclipse when the moon is out and blocking the sun, and when he had his ody however cat-like it still may be, he will go to his father. He knows where he father is hidden. He will go there, and he will tell him what is on his mind. And then… then, he will leave, and try to find his uncle. Prison or not, he needs to see his uncle, because in his life, his uncle is the only person who has truly made sense, aside from his mother, Lady Ursa.


	11. Chapter XI

**A/N: Lordy, Lordy! I'm so sorry, everybody! I know you've all been wondering when the hell I would update this again; well, wait no more! Here it is. And the next chapter is underway, since I feel guilty for torturing those of you who enjoy this story. X3**

**Without further ado, here is chapter eleven. :D**

* * *

Chapter XI

The two skilled female benders face one another, water-whips arming one, seemingly nothing arming the other. Zuko lazily yawns and stretches by a small waterfall. He stands and begins to walk off, maybe to find a kangaroo-mouse to torment for a while. Watching stuff like this is boring.

"Okay, I'm ready for some training!" Aang says in a chipper tone while he blindfolds himself.

Zuko pauses. Maybe this won't be so boring after all. He turns back around and leaps up onto a boulder for safety to watch the proceedings of the spar to come.

He studies the group with keen fascination as Katara, Toph, and Aang have a sort of three-way battle. Zuko is most impressed with Aang, whom can "see" just as well as Zuko can, and yet is training without his sight, but using his earthbending instead, like Toph. How does he do that? It's as though he's listening and waiting, and then striking – or ducking – at just the precise moment. He looks so cute, too: his hair has grown out a bit more in the past week, and now sticks up here and there. And for a while now he hasn't been wearing a shirt around camp. – Both of these things, of course, Zuko doesn't even admit to himself that he notices, but he still _does _notice.

It still eludes Zuko as to how his feelings towards the little airbender have changed so dramatically, and so quickly. But he understands better, now; especially after hearing what Aang had to say regarding their pasts, and heritages. But that was a couple days ago. Now they are all outside of yet another village, and are slowly making their way towards the invasion's rendezvous point.

The mini-battle between the benders becomes an all-out fight between two; as Toph compliments Aang – "Good job, Twinkle Toes; visualize, then attack!" – she sends a rock his ways, but he spins into the ground to avoid it, so it ends up hitting Katara. Things get ugly from there.

"Maybe you should consider taking your own advice!" Katara snaps as she recovers from being hit squarely in the stomach. She winces slightly and cradles her exposed belly for a moment, prior to retaliating when she hears something about dirt and being called, 'Madame Fussybritches.'

A wave of water the size of a seven-foot-tall man comes wooshing across the ground, skipping over Aang but dowsing Toph. The blind girl tenses, and then scowls.

"Oh, I'm sorry, did I _splash_ you, Mud Slug?" Katara retorts. Zuko can almost cut the tension with one of his swords, because within seconds, the two girls forget about Aang and proceed to face off with one another, the scrimmage ending in a mud-wrestling battle, which Zuko doesn't want to admit to being highly amused by.

Naturally, Aang is the one who breaks up the little spat between the girls, and to himself, Zuko idly wonders if they're both on their monthly cycle right now. That would explain why they've been clashing so much today, going head-to-head often. But he hasn't seen the two girls interact alone with one another; for all he knows, this is normal between them. And people think that boys' testosterone causes them to bang heads; those types of people clearly have not witnesses a girl-fight, else their opinion would change.

Toph bends the mud out of her clothes and off of her skin as she climbs out of the mudpit. "While Katara cleans up, let's have some fun in town!" she says, and Sokka nd Aang are quick to agree. She turns towards Zuko. "You too, Patches," she says with a teasing grin while she opens up her arms.

The cat cantankerously hops down from his sunny rock and steps over to her. She feels him approaching, and bends down to scoop him up.

"Why do you always bring that cat everywhere with you?" Sokka wants to know as he drapes his arms over his sword, the sheath stretching across his shoulders and behind his head.

"Because I love him," Toph replies in a baby-voice. "Isn't that right, Prince Patchy-kins?" She laughs and gives the cat a gentle noogie. The cat promptly voices his dislike for being man-handled through a low growl. Toph merely chuckles. Zuko sighs through his nose, and with a rolls of his eyes and a twitch f his whiskers, he gives up. He slumps into her arms comfortably and waits to see what kind of adventure this little trip will take them on.

Sokka begins walking down the road that leads to the nearby town. Aang follows closely behind them while he yanks on the shirt of his suit. "Hey, Toph," Aang says half-teasingly, "Be gentle with Chibi Zuko! I love him, too, you know. So no more noogies, okay?"

Zuko knows that it's not the kind of love he's aiming for to break this damn spell, but the fact that Aang loves him in some way, even if it is as a cat, brings him joy. A warm feeling blossoms in his chest, his already fast-beating animal heart picking up speed by a few beats. He can't stop the small grin that touches his mouth, his fangs peering out happily.

"Oh you do, do you?" Toph says, and Zuko doesn't like her tone. He cranes his neck to peer up at her, and finds her smirking beneath the umbrella of her bangs. "And what if he were a person? Would you still love him then?"

"That would be so cool," Sokka remarks while Aang hesitates in consideration over the idea. "You know, if people could turn into animals? I think I would want to be something predatory. Like… a hawk, or an eagle, or something else that flies and has huge talons. I would look down at all the pitiful people walking below, like, 'Ha, foolish mortals! You are nothing compared to the flying, awesome might of Sawka!' – Get it? _Sawka_? Like, 'hawk' and 'Sokka' mixed together? Man, I'm just so clever."

"And modest," Toph snorts sarcastically. She turns and starts walking backwards, peering in what she perceives as Aang's general direction. "So then, Twinkle-Toes: answer my question. If Patches were actually a human, would you still love him?"

"Well, of course I would," Aang says slowly. "I mean… he would be stubborn and moody, but I bet he would be nice. As a person, but also as a friend. A really nice friend to have added to our group."

"I bet he'd be a firebender, though," Sokka says casually, as if that doesn't bother him because he knows the cat-turned-human wouldn't use it against them. "Since we found him on a Fire Navy ship and not some Earth Kingdom vessel."

"Good point," Aang replies amusedly, "But I bet that, if Patches were a human, he would use his firebending to protect us, since we take care of him. I think he likes us better than his old masters."

"What makes you say that?" Toph frowns as she resumes walking forward once more, Zuko now perched across her shoulders like a mink fur.

"I don't know," Aang says airily, "It's just a feeling I have. I'm great with animals, remember? It's like I know what they're thinking."

"Mostly because you're an animal yourself," Sokka jokes, not at all meaning it. "Totally ferocious."

"Totally," Toph agrees with a snicker. "He's so reckless and crazy."

"Reckless, maybe, but not crazy," Aang pouts. "Sure, I occasionally do things without thinking – impulse, I guess you could call it – but I'm not some fruit-loop."

"Thank goodness for that," Sokka replies with a chuckle. "Imagine: an insane Avatar. The world would end."

Aang's demeanor suddenly shifts into that of anxiety; Zuko can almost smell it with his keen feline senses. "Oh, crap. Please don't remind me. The world _could _end for all we know, once the comet comes. It looked pretty scary in the visions Roku showed me, anyhow."

"Don't worry, Aang," Sokka says as they arrive on the edge of town, the first shop within a few meters away. He lowers his voice so not to be heard by the local folk. "The world will be fine; we're going to save to it, remember? The invasion and all?"

The young Avatar takes a deep, lengthy breath. "I know. I'll just have to focus on other things for right now."

"Exactly," Sokka says. "Now then… what should we get with the last of our money?" he thinks aloud as the three (or four, counting the kitty perched on Toph's shoulder) of them stroll down the main lane of the wee town.

"How about we get more money?" Toph grins, and Zuko knows it can't be a good sign.

"Where? How?" The two boys ask her.

"There. We'll gamble." And she points down a slope off the side of the street to a group of men huddled around a guy shuffling shells. It's an old, practical game to bet on.

"Are you sure about this?" Aang asks as they step into the circle. Whoops and cheers around all around them.

"I'm positive. See, everybody always guesses wrong because the dealer moves the stone at the last second. But I can sense it with my earthbending. They'll never suspect a thing, too, since I'm obviously blind and in the Fire Nation where there are no earthbenders," Toph whispers sneakily to her two cohorts.

"Okay, we trust you," Sokka winks and nudges her. "Do us proud, Toph."

"You, there!" The shell-shuffler says suddenly. He's pointing directly at Toph. "Blind girl. Would you like to try your hand at this?"

"But how can I possibly play, when I can't see?" she replies in a clearly faked innocent voice, but only those who know her well can tell. Aang and Sokka try not to laugh.

"You can play just fine. You don't need to see to be lucky," the man smirks.

"All right, if you say so," Toph says, her usual cheeky attitude practically smothered by the false-innocence. Aang clamps his hand over his mouth, pretending to worry in order to hide his smiles.

Within minutes, bets are made and money is traded, and the three (plus Zuko) are skipping away with their winnings. Zuko is honestly a little shocked; he had no idea that the Avatar and his gang would play dirty like this, cheating in order to get money. But it makes sense to the exiled prince; after all, how else can they support themselves? They'd starve if they couldn't buy food, and die if they couldn't afford armor of some sort for the battles to come.

Back at the camp, Katara is immediately suspicious of all of the food and other supplies that the trio brings back after a shopping spree with their winnings. She frowns as she stirs a stew. "Where did you get all this?" she questions, her tone rising like a mother who already knows but thinks it polite to ask anyhow. "We don't have any money."

"Toph got us money. She scammed one of the guys in town who moves the shells around all sneaky-like," Aang says around a bite of apple.

"She used earthbending to win the game! Classic!" Sokka adds.

"Ah, so… she _cheated,_" Katara remarks in a reprimanding tone.

"Hey, I only cheated because _he _was cheating. I _cheated_ a _cheater_. What's wrong with that?" Toph retorts casually.

"I'm just saying: this isn't something we should make a habit of doing," Katara replies motherly.

"Why? Because it's _fun?_ And you _hate _fun?" Toph retorts, her sassy tone even more prominent than usual.

"What? I don't hate fun!" Katara says weakly. She grabs Momo and places him on her head, a nervous smile on her mouth. "See? Fun!"

Momo slides right off, and Katara gets a few blank stares from the boys.

After a moment of awkward silence filled by Momo's squeaks of protest as he runs away, Aang stands up and lifts his headband to reveal his arrow. Zuko sits between him and Toph and tilts his head to the side, wondering what the boy is going to say. Kindly, the Avatar tells his friend, "Katara, I'm going to make you an Avatar promise that we won't make a habit of doing these scams." And he promptly bows, his hands in the formal airbender clasp of respect.

"Okay, Aang. If anyone, I trust you," she says, shooting Toph a look that goes unnoticed by the blind girl. "Anyway, the food is ready. Help yourselves."

And that was that. Or so Zuko and Kaatra thought.

But for the next couple days, the trio – Toph, Aang, and Sokka – commit a series of clever, unstoppable scams, some more honest and fair than others. Toph starts to get a reputation, unbeknownst to the Gaang.

Katara confront them on their scams. "Guys, I think you need to stop. If you keep this up for much longer, something bad is going to happen! There are _always_ consequences to actions. I mean, _hello_: has anyone here heard of karma? It's going to catch up to you sooner or later!"

In her arms, Zuko nods furiously. With the way the three of them have been making themselves known, what if that man who blasts things with his mind shows up? He's been an ever-present threat on Zuko's conscious, because everything in his feline senses tells him to stray from danger, and the human warrior in him tells him to protect those around him if it comes down to it. They are very conflicting emotions, and both are being triggered by all of this tomfoolery.

"For once, could you stop being a sour-puss and lighten up? _Both_ of you," Toph says, referring to Katara and the Fire Prince.

A full-fledged catfight comes into being. "Oh, I'm _sorry,_ do you think that I should be more like _you,_ like some _wild child?_" Katara retorts angrily. Zuko leaps away just in time to avoid being dropped as the brunette swings her arms around in her sudden fury.

_Somebody smells like PMS,_ Zuko harrumphs. He isn't sure if Katara is naturally pissy, easily angered like him, or actually on her cycle, but whatever the case, he doesn't want to be in the line of fire.

"Yeah, maybe! Maybe then you'd see how great we have it: we're travelling around the world, making easy money, having _fun, _and all without any parents telling us what to do!" Toph responds, her voice rising slightly in octave but her demeanor otherwise careless and unchanged.

Katara's expression morphs from fed-up to smartass. She grins. "Oh, I see now: you're only acting this way because of your _parents."_

Toph's face falls, her tone falling flat with it. "Whatever."

"They were controlling you, so you ran away. And now you're acting like your parents don't exist. You act like you hate them, but… you _don't._ You just feel guilty." There is something in her tone that makes Zuko think she's speaking from experience.

"I _do_ hate them," Toph grumbles and glances down at the ground, her unseeing eyes cloudy with hints of pain and remorse.

"I don't think you do," Katara says in a gentler tone, "I think you miss them. But you don't want to deal with that, so you act like this… _crazy_ person."

Scowling, Toph stands defensively, her voice wavering in the slightest; no one else notices, but Zuko does. His ears twitch at the tenor of her voice as she says, "You're wrong. I ran away to help Aang, and that's it."

"You know what? It doesn't matter. These scams put us all at risk, and we don't need that. We've already got a third-eyed freak after us."

Sokka takes this notion to jump in and lighten the mood. "Speaking of that third-eyed freak, I think I finally have a name for him; what do you think of: Sparky Sparky Boom Man?" he says cheerfully with a hint of creepiness, his fingers wiggling and then splaying out in the air to emphasize the greatness of his ridiculous nickname for their enemy. "Just think about it."

It doesn't work. The heat of the moment isn't ruined.

"We have enough money; you need to stop this!" Katara exclaims.

"I'll stop when I _want_ to stop!" Toph spits back. "And _not_ when you tell me to!" And she stops her foot into the ground, the earth rumbling from her unconscious bending for a moment. Then she proceeds to stomp off o a corner of the camp and send four walls into the air to down her usual tent. The other members of the group look on her with shocked and angry expressions, the latter coming solely from Katara.

Not liking the atmosphere, Sokka stands and feigns cheerfulness. "Speaking of money, I'm off to spend some. See you all later!" and he marches off, if only to escape the tense awkwardness of the situation between the two girls.

Zuko pads closer to the rock tent, sensing the verbal battle over with. He runs around its walls to the one facing away from camp and scratches as its surface to be let inside. Once allowed in, he looks up into Toph's face in the darkness to see her expression past her bangs. He blinks his shiny gold eyes at her and meows minutely. She doesn't look at him, but he can see that she's crying.

She pulls him into her lap and whispers into his sleep black fur, "I hate it when she's right, Zuko. I think you already figured this out, but I really did run away from my parents to join up with Aang and teach him earthbending. It the best excuse for me to finally get away, and more than that, Aang became the first friend I've ever made, as annoying and silly as he can be at times." She sniffs, and wipes her face with the back of her hand. No more tears. She sighs. "Do you know what that's like?"

She can feel him nod, and only when she smiles does he even notice that he gave her a response.

"Thanks for understanding, Zuko. You know, despite all the stories I've heard about you from the others, you're really not a bad guy at all." And this being her way of complimenting him, she gives him a kiss on the head (which he immediately swipes a paw at to rub away) and disassembles her tent.

Toph doesn't look at Katara, and as something to do to distance herself from the earthbender, Katara suggests that she and Aang go practice their waterbending. While they do, Toph wanders the campground for things to do. This is, until Sokka returns.

He found a wanted posted of Toph while shopping for a messenger bird (he named it Hawkie, he explains to Toph and the others later). The Fire Nation folk deemed her "The Runaway," which is a very sketchy title she automatically loves, because it also applies to what she did to her parents: ran away from them.

"But Toph, this is serious. Maybe my sister's right; these scams are drawing too much attention to us. If Katara finds out about this poster –" Sokka tries, but the blind earthbender cuts him off.

"She's not going to find out. Look at it this way: with all these scams, you've gotten enough money to go ahead with all of your invasion plans," Toph says, a plan formulating in her head as she drops some bait.

"True… Like, I had this idea of making armor for Appa, so that when the invasion rolls around, he'll be protected and stuff," Sokka says excitedly, taking the bait.

"Exactly. And if Katara finds this poster, she might freak and make us give the money back or something. So we're going to keep this as a secret between us, okay? Here, have some extra money. You can go buy yourself a nice Fire Nation map, since we need one. Or… better yet, make it an atlas. It would be handier," she persuades as she hands Sokka a bag full of money.

"I _do_ like expensive atlases…" he says, buying in to her bribery as he takes the money and hands her the poster.

"Of course you do," Toph replies slyly, her lips curving into a smirk. "And that's why this wanted poster is going to stay our little secret~,"she says convincingly.

And all is well.

But Zuko is a witness to this. Even though he doesn't want Toph to be angry with him or think him a traitor (that's the last thing he ever wants, since he's been labeled as such so many times), he needs to find a way to get that poster to Katara for Toph's safety. Zuko doesn't want any harm to come to Toph, and he knows that Katara is just as protective as he is when it comes to people dear to her.

So, after Toph leaves again, and with the sneaky grace of a kitty-ninja, Zuko leads Katara to Toph's possessions and nudges the blind girl's little pull-string sack until the poster falls out of it.

Katara stoops down, gently folding her skirt beneath her. "What's this? What are you trying to tell me, Patches?"

Zuko says nothing, not even a meow. He simply sits and stares at her, waiting for her to unroll the paper.

Drawing her blue eyes away from the black cat, Katara opens the sheet up paper until she gasps at its contents, finally seeing what the cat was trying to tell her. She glances back at the little animal, a frown on her brow. "How did you know about this? You're oddly intelligent for an animal."

Zuko cocks his head, as if shrugging, and then leaves the area. Katara stares after him for a lasting moment before shaking her head and beginning to plan out how to confront Toph about this, especially how she came across it…

She could always say that a little bird told her, which isn't too far from the truth. Or, maybe, that she was straightening things up and just _happened_ upon it? On second thought, that makes more sense. But she isn't sure Toph will believe her.

xXxXx

It doesn't go over well. Aang and Sokka watch with disapproval as Katara and Toph hash it out for the umpteenth time. Sokka sighs, because Katara is sounding far too motherly for her own good, and considering how Toph left her real parents, he knows that this is not going to end on any sort of happy note.

Toph and Katara storm off in different directions. Sokka and Aang exchange looks, Momo perching on Aang's shoulder, Hawkie perching on Sokka's, and Zuko sitting between them. The hawk squawks in protest of the tension between the two girls. Even he can sense it, dumb bird or not. "I know, Hawkie," Sokka says glumly, "Why can't they just get along?"

An hour passes, and nobody has moved. In some ways, no one wants to break what's already broken, and in the boys' case, they're too lazy to get caught up in the catfight.

But Sokka gets an idea. With a grin, he asks Aang if he wants to test out their newest member, the messenger hawk. Aang agrees, and Zuko rolls his golden cat-eyes as the idea presents itself to be more than a little moronic, considering that Toph can't read or write and the plan is doomed to fail from the start.

Noticing the setting sun, Zuko hops off of the log he had been sitting on and traipses to nowhere in particular. He ends up near Katara, following her down to a pool connected to the stream at the edge of camp. It's hidden nicely; perfect for solitary time, where it rests beneath a miniature cliff. Zuko leaves, however, the second that Katara starts to undress; he realizes all too soon that she's planning on taking a bath to calm her nerves, and while Zuko's interests lie in someone else, he knows when to be polite.

Finding himself atop the cliff, he pauses when Sokka and Toph come to sit on its edge, unknowingly within earshot of Katara. Zuko tilts his furry black head in curiosity and sits down near the pair.

"Come on, Toph, we need to talk about things," Sokka says in a friendly tone, "And you know it."

She sits down, her back hunched slightly. "Let me guess: you want to explain to me that your sister isn't nearly as annoying as I make her out to be," she huffs.

Sokka shakes his head. "Nah, she can be pretty much a pain in the ass." Zuko snorts; he's sure that Katara can hear this, and must be offended. "She always has to be right about everything and get her way all the time; she can be bossy and in-your-business and, like you pointed out earlier, very motherly." He leans back on his palms. "But… in a way, I rely on those things about her."

Toph frowns, and Zuko lays down, curling up with his tail around his body as he rests near Toph. She strokes his back idly. "I don't understand," the blind girl replies softly, in confusion. "How can you rely on her bossy motherliness?"

Sokka smiles warmly, then says in a grave, serious tone: "When our mother died, our family was a mess. Dad couldn't cope, so he left to fight in the war. But Katara… She loved Mom more than anyone in the world, and yet she stayed so strong when her hero died. She cried a little, yeah, but… she stepped up and filled our mother's shoes. She _became_ the figure that we lost, and now…" He pauses, nibbles his bottom lip, and murmurs, "Don't tell anybody I said this, but: whenever I try to picture my mother's face, Katara's is the only one I can see."

Slowly, Toph nods her head, and Zuko peers up at her, his eyes darting back and forth between the two. He can suddenly sympathize with the two water tribe siblings; he remembers Katara mentioning her lost mother back at Ba Sing Se, but he now has newfound respect for Sokka. The exiled prince realizes just how wounded the Avatar's friends are, and how similarly they relate to him.

Purring, the little black cat slinks across Toph's lap and rubs up against Sokka's thigh, showing how he understands. Sokka looks down and smiles.

Meanwhile, Toph opens her mouth to say something important she's been keeping inside. "You know… Katara's been a pain at times, but… she knows me. I mean, _really _knows me. She cares about me and accepts me for who I am. That's more than I can say about my own mother." She wipes a tear that got past her strong demeanor. Immediately afterward, she's back on her guard. She punches Sokka in the, startling Zuko. "Don't ever repeat this to her, got it?"

"Ouch! Yeah, I got it, I got it!" Sokka says, a small bubble of laughter erupting from his throat. "Jeez, you're so weird, Toph."

"Shut up," Toph retorts, but she's grinning. She stands up. "Come on, let's go. The sun's setting, so we should probably make dinner. Or at least help Katara do it."

As the earthbender starts to leave, Sokka scoops up Zuko and laughs. "Women scare me sometimes, Patchy. Just be glad you don't have to deal with them!" And he carries the cat away.

Secretly, Katara has been below the rock's ledge, taking a relaxing soak. She had heard everything, and she's determined to make things right, now that she knows the heartfelt truth.

xXxXx

Zuko hates only observing. He hates it, because sometimes he wants to intervene and sometimes he wants to join in. As soon as the whole fiasco in town with Sparky Sparky Boom Man (he really needs a new name) occurs, Zuko is left awestruck and wondering, because it had been during the daytime when he couldn't help anyone. He feels sick about it, a new sensation he isn't used to.

Regret is something he's familiar with, but this sense of injustice? This feeling of wanting to help, but unable to? It makes the cat-prince feel as though he is the most pathetic, useless creature on the planet. It makes him feel strange, too, since he's been used to anger and hatred for so long. And it downright _aches_ to see his friends (these people truly are his friends now, at least in his mind) return exhausted and wounded.

The moon is nearly full above, and Zuko has to hide his temporarily humanoid self as a lump of luggage atop Appa. Toph and Katara are suddenly aboard, Toph requesting that the waterbending girl (no longer her enemy, now that they've made up) to write a letter for her.

"To whom?" Katara asks, her voice teasingly suggestive. "A boyfriend back home?"

The blind girl laughs. "Pfft, no. Nothing like _that. _I…" her voice grows softer. "I want to send a letter to my parents. You know, to comfort them. I've been gone for months, and my dad even sent those two Earth Rumble goons after me who followed me all the way to Ba Sing Se! So they must care after all, even if it's in the wrong ways." She sighs. "I guess they mean well, even if they practically caged me."

Zuko, forced out of his home. Toph, kept locked up inside of hers. Somehow, he can understand the situation, because the feelings of shame seem to reside in both cases. Shame and abandonment; shame and secretive. Neither is right.

"Okay; I'll do it. I'm proud of you for doing this, Toph. It's unusually responsible of you."

The earthbender snorts, back to her old self. "Yeah, well… don't expect me to make a habit of it. I just hope Sokka's dumb bird can find its way to my house."

Katara giggles as she gets out a piece of scratch parchment. "Good luck to you there." And as she dips a calligraphy brush into some ink, she leans backward against where Zuko resides, making him release a small, muffled groan. Katara stiffens and leans away. "Did you hear something?"

Toph immediately recognizes the sound, and she offers a jittery response. "Uh, um, no! What sound? I didn't hear anything, and I have _great _hearing! You must be imagining things, Katara! Ha ha ha," Toph says weakly, and scratches the back of her neck, beneath her bun. "Anyway, it could've just been the cat. He sleeps in all sorts of awkward places. Let's just get back to my letter, okay?"

"Yeah, you're right," Katara remarks offhandedly. And while Toph begins reciting what she wishes to tell her parents, Zuko sighs with relief and is more than glad that Toph has his back.

But this is getting more and more difficult, keeping his humanoid form with feline ears and tail a secret; as the phase of the full moon draws nearer, it begins showing up at dust and lasting through dawn as a Day Moon, and changes the prince earlier and earlier. Pretty soon, he knows, he's going to be discovered. If not as the cat, then at least as Prince Zuko. And he knows that if and when that time comes (and he very much prays that it's merely an _if, _since he fears rejection from his new allies), it won't end very well.


	12. Chapter XII

**A/N: Okay, I finished up this chapter, finally, and am starting the next one, after, like, forever! Haha. Sorry, guys. But I am going to finish this fanfic even if it kills me! XD**

* * *

Chapter XII

The full moon is too strong. Zuko cringes on the ground, his body stretching and contorting from feline to mostly human. Gasping, he lays sweaty and bare on the dirty ground, thankful that everybody else but Toph left in search of firewood for the night. The sun is still up, but the moon is already above the horizon, looming large and silvery white.

"Zuko?" Toph whispers as she ducks between the thick trees in search of him. "I think I heard your voice. Well, your non-meowing voice anyhow. Are you okay?"

"Not really," Zuko rasps, and forces himself to sit up. Toph brings a blanket and drapes it over him. She can't see him naked, but she knows he doesn't like being exposed. "The fuller the moon, the more it aches. It's like it's sucking my firebending away, and making me change more violently."

Toph whistles lowly. "Damn, that's some curse! And you said that Sokka's old girlfriend did this to you?"

"More or less," he amends, running one hand through his hair and over his silky black ears. The ears hang back on his head in irritation. "She meant well, and the pain it causes is well-deserved. But I can't say it doesn't bug me just a little."

Toph nods, and sits down next to the exiled prince. "Yeah, I suppose…" She sighs. "How long are you going to keep this up? You know you should tell everyone else about you."

Zuko adverts his gaze. "I know," he grumbles, "But I want to put it off for as long as I can. I'm… scared, Toph."

"Scared of what?" She retorts flippantly. "You've got nothing to worry about! If this is about Twinkle-toes, then you can take my word for it: the guy's a softie. If you tell him how you feel –"

Zuko clamps his hand over her mouth, his eyebrow twitching. "Not. What. I Meant."

"Oh, sorry," Toph mumbles behind his fingers. She removes the digits and wipes her mouth with the back of her hand. "Then what did you mean?"

"The Water Tribe siblings," he answers quietly. "After I betrayed Katara and my uncle at Ba Sing Se, they'll hate me. I'm afraid to face her, afraid to face him, and I know that Sokka just generally doesn't like me. So what am I going to do? To break this curse, I have to get the one I love to love me back. And earning someone's love requires the approval of their friends."

The earthbender winces. "Yeah. Ouch. I forgot about that little rule," she says, sighing. Defeated, she shrugs. "We'll figure something out, Patches. We're both pretty clever when we want to be." And she smirks, sending him a thumbs-up.

Smiling slightly in return, Zuko nods. "Okay, fine. I trust you. But as of right now… if anyone coming? I want to get my clothes."

"Toph touches her hand to the ground and listens carefully. She shakes her head. "No one's at camp yet. Momo's skittering around, but you obviously won't get ratted out by him."

"All right. Thanks, Toph."

"No prob."

xXxXx

"…Suddenly, they heard something down the hall, in the dark. 'Oo0o0o0o0ohh!' It came into the torch light. And they knew… the blade of Win Fun was haunted! Oo0o0owaaaiiiieeee!" Sokka concludes, and no one says anything or looks frightened.

"I think I liked the Man with a Sword for a Hand better," Aang drawls tiredly.

"Me too," Zuko mutters to himself, separate from the others behind Appa.

"…Man, Water Tribe slumber parties must _suck,_" Toph remarks.

"Unlike Sokka, I have a good one. It's a ghost story… that's true," Katara murmurs vaguely, her knees brought up to her chest. From a distance, Zuko sits up and listens more carefully.

Sokka doesn't look impressed. He plops down on the dirt in front of the fire. "Is this one of those, 'a friend of my dad's cousins' stories? Because those are really unreliable."

The waterbending girl shakes her head. "No. It happened to _Mom._"

Sokka shuts right up. Toph sits up straighter. And Aang and Zuko simultaneously lean up and forward.

"One winter, when Mom was a girl, a snowstorm buried the whole village for weeks. A month later, Mom realized that she hadn't seen her friend Nini since the storm. So Mom and some others went to check on Nini's family. But when they got there, no one was home. Just a fire flickering in the fireplace. When the men went out to search, Mom stayed at the house. While she was alone, she heard a voice." She pauses for dramatic effect, then whispers eerily in a childish voice, "_'It's so cold, and I can't get warm…!'_ Mom turned and saw Nini standing by the fire. She was blue, like she was frozen. Mom ran outside for help, but when everyone came back… Nini was gone."

Sokka dares to ask, "Wh-where'd she go?"

Katara deadpans and stares blankly into the fire. "No one knows. Nini's house stays empty to this day." She pauses, and her eyes lock onto each of the campfire members'. "But sometimes, people still see smoke creeping out of the chimney; almost as if little Nini is still trying to get warm."

A shiver runs down Zuko's spine, and he curls inward, closer to Appa. There are rarely any ghost stories told around the Fire Nation. Most firebenders think they're too good for them, as if they only need to care about the living. They respect and honor the dead, it's true, but Fire Nation folk don't generally go around telling stories. They find it boring and unrealistic. But Zuko believes what he just heard, and it haunts him.

"Wait… where's Patches?!" Aang squeaks, wrapping Momo's ears around him. "It's kinda cold out tonight, what if he –"

"I'm sure he's fine, Twinkle-toes," Toph comments lightly, patting the bald monk on the arm. "Cats like to run off sometimes. He'll be back; he always is."

"R-right," Aang says, a little sad. He sighs. "I just, y'know… want to make sure he's not scared. 'Cause I'm not scared, but he might be."

"_Mm-hmm,_" Toph hums sarcastically. She knows him better; he's scared, all right.

Suddenly, Toph feels sharp vibrations radiating from just below the mountain nearby. She sits erect and her eyes grow wide.

"Wait, do you guys hear that?! There's people under the mountain, and… they're _screaming!_" she says in a panic, and the group of three (plus Momo) gather together in a bundle of equally panicked faces.

"Nice try," Sokka says with false bravado.

"D-don't scare us like that, Toph," Katara says shakily. "That's not f-funny."

"No, I'm _serious,_" the blind girl counters fiercely, and Zuko ceases his cringing to stare across the way at the girl. She _is_ being serious. "I _hear_ something." She pauses, listening. "Wait. It just… _stopped."_

Zuko stands and searches for a weapon. He winds up borrowing one of Sokka's, a machete of some sort. _I better go check this out, _he thinks to himself. _I might as well do some good, or at least inform Toph about it so she can tell the others._

And so Zuko sneaks off in the direction of the mountain, his hood up over his ears, utterly unaware of the stranger appearing behind the Gaang just a few meters behind him.

xXxXx

The mountain is oddly quiet as Zuko approaches. From this height, he can see a small village down below, casted in shadow from the strong moonlight behind the tall rocky structure. He gazes up at it, narrows his eyes, and continues his search around the base.

"Where did she hear all that screaming?" he mutters to himself, thinking aloud. He ducks around some trees and bushes, coming out into an open area. There, in the center, is a small opening to a cave leading into the mountain. Zuko's golden eyes flicker a moment, comprehension sinking in. He lights a small flame in his hand, using it as a torch as he ventures into the cave. At least here, in the Fire Nation, he can rescue somebody using firebending without being shunned, like that farm boy from the Earth Kingdom had.

As soon as he's deep within the cave, Zuko sees them: people chained to walls and earth-made pillars, many of them a bit starved but clearly not too beaten. He rears back in surprise when one of them screams at the sight of them.

"No, no! It's all right! I'm here to help you," Zuko says as gently as his gruff voice is able to utter. "I heard you screaming. How long have you people been kept here?"

"Weeks at a time, for some of us," a man says as Zuko comes over to him and breaks his shackles with Sokka's machete. "Hama brought us here."

"Hama? Who's she?" Zuko questions as he begins saving another person.

"An old woman from our village. She's an innkeeper, and she looks innocent, but she's crazy! She casts some sort of spell on us, one where we couldn't control our bodies! It was… terrifying." The man shudders, and Zuko empathizes. It would be terrifying to be unable to control your own body.

With seven of the approximate fifteen prisoners free, Zuko is feeling good about himself. He's helping people, and he's doing it because he knows it's right and because he actually _wants _to. Hang around the Avatar and his group long enough, and you're bound to change as a person, it seems. He feels like a new man. It warms him inside to know that Aang in particular would be surprised and proud of him.

But suddenly, one of the people who hadn't already left turns around and yells out in distress. Zuko freezes, his arm locked on an upswing, about to break another set of chains. But his other arm is free, holding a flame.

The fire goes out.

"Firebender, firebender!" the sound of an elderly woman shrieks, and though Zuko tells his body to move, he is unable to. "How dare you come and save your own kind! You all deserve to _die,_" she hisses, and she is right up behind Zuko, stepping closer and closer. His body feels strange – it's as if every muscle fiber and ever vein in his body is knotting together, bending to a will that isn't his own.

Zuko grinds out from his tightened jaw, "Hama, I. Know. What. You've. Done."

The old woman steps aside to allow a sliver of moonlight enter the cave. He can see her face: wrinkled, hateful, sneering. Her hair falls randomly over her eyes, but otherwise done up in a bun and hair loops. Like Katara.

"No doubt they told you, the people you freed. I'll have to collect them all over again! They all deserve to rot in prison like I had. All of your people do. Firebenders are all the same!" she spits on the ground, as if trying to ward off the curse of the Fire Nation. Her eyes return to Zuko's, glaring fiercely. "And you, too, will receive their fate, their just rewards."

Still controlling his body, she moves him to an unbroken, empty set of shackles and buckles him in. He's trapped, stuck to the wall. He struggles, but his brute strength isn't enough.

Hama lights a torch with spark rocks, and looks about the room. There are still a little over half opf the prisoners who remain, Zuko now part of them. The old witch spies Sokka's machete on the ground. She scowls when she recognizes the Water Tribe design.

"Thief! Where did you get this weapon from? Some poor Water Tribe citizen you beat down and robbed, no doubt!" she growls, her voice low and menacing. "Well, well, it should make a nice gift to my new inn guests. Two of them are from the Tribe, hiding among the Fire Nation to take it down from the inside. Warriors, true ones." And as she says this, a twisted smile forms on her dry lips, and a sort of pride emerges in her tone.

_Sokka, Katara, and the others are at her inn?!_ Zuko frets, and begins to struggle more. _No! What if she hurts Aang? After all, the Avatar has the potential to firebend, and this woman despises firebenders –_

"Let me get a good look at you," Hama says suddenly, her tone oddly soft. "You're a young one. Younger than most of the others here." She draws nearer, torch held out in front of her. She comes within arms length of Zuko, holding the torch out to the side. She studies him with narrow eyes, and whips back his cloak to get a better view. But as she does so, she notices his pointed black ears and long-haired black tail, and cries out in horror. "Demon! _Demon!" _Hama yells, and suddenly slaps Zuko across the face, directly where his scar meets his cheek. "Oh, oh, you won't get _me, _Creature! I'll be sure to torture you until you _bleed!_" she snarls, and then turns on her heels and storms out of the mountain cave.

Left to himself, Zuko slinks down as far as he can without straining his arms too much, and chews on his bottom lip. _What now…?_

His thoughts are interrupted by a timid female voice. "Wh-why did she call you a demon?" one of the villagers says. She leans forward from her place on the cave wall to squint into the moonlight. It barely casts a glow on Zuko's face. "You can bend, I saw, but so can half of us here, and she never called us _that,_" she puzzles. Zuko is at a loss as to what to say.

But a man nearby has his eyes wide in horror. He answers the girl in Zuko's place. "It's because he isn't human. He has the ears and tail of a beast!"

Zuko hangs his head in shame. He doesn't say a word.

Bu the young woman is persistent. "Ears and tail? That sounds more like a curse than a demon. Were you cursed, rescuer? Did the gods punish you?"

"Yes, so to speak," Zuko rasps out, his voice a smack croak. "But it doesn't matter. What maters is getting out of here."

"Good luck," the same man who answered the girl retorts with a snort. He sounds as though he's falling apart. "We're never getting out of here. I just hope the ones who escaped tell others, or at least avoid the wrath of Hama. That woman needs to be locked away herself."

"You said it," the girl sighs. No one else seems to be talking. Zuko doesn't look any of their ways, or say anything more himself. He simply gazes out at the full moon, wondering what will become of him come sunrise.

xXxXx

He had fallen asleep at some point, but as Zuko awakes, he finds himself on the cave floor, his shrunken wrists slipped out of the chains above. He glances around and finds everyone else asleep, even with the early morning sunlight leaking in from the mouth of the cave.

For one overjoyed by the curse's ability to transform him into a small cat, Zuko leaps up to his feet and dashes out of the cave. He has to warn somebody! Toph might understand. And if not, he can always attempt to write something by holding a stick or calligraphy pen in his mouth, dragging it through the dirt or across some paper…

His thoughts distracted, Zuko nearly runs into a few people on the village streets. One even shouts, "Dumb cat! Nearly tripping me…" but he ignores them. He has to find this inn before it's too late.

In the marketplace, Zuko stumbles across Katara and Hama and the others, shopping for food supplies. Hama seems much less threatening in the daylight, and she's smiling sweetly. Zuko shudders in disgust. He dashes over to Katara, hastily rubbing up against her leg.

"Oh!" the waterbender gasps, her eyes landing on the small animal. "Patches, there you are! Aang and Toph were worried sick."

At the sound of their names, Aang and Toph turn in Katara's direction and jog over to her, their hands immediately attaching themselves to Zuko's fur.

"Where'd you run off to?" the three coo as Katara scoops him up into her arms and cradles him to her chest. She's warm, and for a moment, Zuko sighs in relief and rubs against her chin lovingly, glad that nothing has happened to her or anyone else just yet.

But as the warm feelings wear off, he remembers. 'Dammit, I wish I could tell you!' Zuko meows in frustration, and Katara and Aang frown at him for a moment, wondering why he's meowing. But soon they're shrugging and before long, Zuko's in Aang's arms, the airbender snuggling against the little cat. Zuko feels his stomach flip happily.

"Well, no more running off and getting lost for you, Mister. You're coming back with us," the Water Tribe girl says in a chipper tone.

"That's right," Toph adds. She stares Zuko down and adds a hair suspiciously, "Because who knows what you were up to last night. I'd sure like to know." And she winks at him.

But behind her, Hama is staring at Zuko with much too keen an interest. The old woman's gaze morphs into a glare. Zuko sinks lower into Aang's arms, not at all wanting to be discovered. If she somehow manages to recognize his scar –

"We have what we need for tonight's supper, children," Hama says suddenly, forcing a smile. "You should all head back to the inn. I have a couple more errands to make, and then I'll be joining you. All right?"

Sokka looks suspicious, something Zuko's all too glad to see. "This is a mysterious little town you have here," he remarks with a quirk of an eyebrow.

Hama smiles broadly. "A mysterious town… for mysterious children."

And that would be a 'touché' moment.

Sokka backs off, and the Gaang returns to the inn.

And Zuko can only hope that he can talk to Toph tonight before things go horribly wrong.

xXxXx

"That Hama seems a little… strange. Like she knows something, and refuses to tell us. And I'm telling you, something isn't right about that," Sokka says suspiciously. "And I'm going to find out what she's hiding. I don't trust secrets."

Unnoticed by the others, Zuko nods vigorously in agreement, his small furry head bobbing wildly up and down.

"That's ridiculous," Katara says naively. "She's a kind woman who took us in and gave us a place to stay. She kind of reminds me of Gran-Gran."

"But then what did she mean by that 'mysterious children' comment?" Sokka retorts, his fingers stroking his chin in thought.

"Gee, I dunno! Maybe it's because she found four kids she's never seen before, camping out in a forest at night?"

Sokka dusts this answers from his shoulders. "I'm going to take a look around. Any of you are welcome to join me."

Zuko is the first to tag behind the amateur swordsman's heels.

And so Sokka takes the others with him on a little adventure, searching the inn for anything suspicious. They find a closet full of puppets (_How creepy,_ Zuko thinks), and a locked attic-like room. The entire time he's snooping, Katara is protesting about the morals and how rude it is, and Aang is worried that Hama will come home at any moment.

"Just a puppet-loving innkeeper, huh? Then why does she have a locked room like this up here?"

"Probably to keep nosy people like you away from her private stuff!" Katara returns defensively.

"We'll see," Sokka grumbles, bending down to peer in through the keyhole. "That's weird. It's empty except for a little chest."

Toph's eyes light up. "Maybe it's treasure!" she says excitedly.

Zuko, Katara, and Aang all look at her like she's crazy. Sokka merely shakes his head as he removes his sword from its sheath and begins picking the lock.

"_Sokka,_" Katara hisses at her brother, "_What_ do you think you're _doing, _breaking in to a private room?!" She crosses her arms over her chest.

"I have to see what's in there!" Sokka says, and the second the door is free, Zuko leaps in front of Sokka between his feet and pads over to the chest. He nudges it with his nose. "See, even Patches knows that something's up."

And as they all crowd around Sokka as he holds up the chest, Aang murmurs nervously, "We shouldn't be doing this. It feels wrong…"

"And yet your curiosity keeps you here, Twinkle-Toes," Toph snorts.

"Maybe there's a key around here…" Sokka thinks aloud as he find the chest locked as well, as he expected it would be.

"Oh! My space-rock bracelet!" Toph says suddenly. Grinning, she removes it from her arm and morphs it into a skeleton key.

"Hurry, hurry!" Sokka encourages.

"This is crazy. I'm leaving!" Katara says, beginning to storm out.

"Uh, guys? This can't end well…" Aang frets.

And all the while, Zuko is staring intently up at the box with his golden cat-eyes narrowed. He's sure that whatever's in there might help explain why Hama is so twisted.

But the second Toph gets the box to click open, Hama appears in the doorway, stating, "I'll tell you what's in the box."

The four jump, and Zuko himself freezes, fur on end, before dashing out of the room and down the stairs.

Hama watches him go.

xXxXx

As all four of them return downstairs, they're all laughing with relief. Zuko is puzzled, left staring out from under the kitchen table where he hid.

"The Southern Water Tribe! No wonder I felt a connection with you right away," Katara's saying, and suddenly, it all makes sense to the banished prince: Hama hates firebenders because firebenders have practically destroyed the Southern Water Tribe over the years, removing from it every last waterbender they could.

Zuko shakes his head. If only the four knew about the mountain, and how Hama is behind it all.

As the group starts cooking, Toph goes outside to visit with Appa and Momo in the small barn nearby (blindness isn't very good for cooking, especially when it comes to chopping and measuring). Zuko decides to follow, still weary of whether or not Hama recognized his scar and put two and two together of a boy with cat ears, tail, and scar, and a cat with the same.

The sun starts to fall, and the moon begins to rise. Toph waits in the barn as Zuko transforms, dresses himself, and comes to sit next to her.

"You don't like Hama, do you?" Toph says straight away. "You keep avoiding her."

"That's because I saw some horrible things last night," Zuko informs her softly. He shivers and curls up. "Toph, you have to keep the others away from Hama, especially Aang. She might know that Katara and Sokka are Water Tribe, but I don't think she knows that Aang's the Avatar. Please, don't let her find out. The Avatar can firebend, and Hama hates firebenders." He turns and stares at her. "You know that screaming you thought you heard coming from the mountain?"

She frowns at him. "You mean… I wasn't imagining it?"

He shakes his head gravely. "No, you weren't. It's real, and I went there. Thank Agni for my curse, or else I might still be there; she tied me up to a wall because she caught me firebending and helping some of the other villagers there to escape. It was awful. She tortures them because she hates them for an illogical reason."

Toph's eyes are wide with fear, and she slowly squeezes them shut and stands up. "We have to tell the others!"

"Not yet!" Zuko hisses, "Or else Hama might attack you if she finds out where you're going, and that you know her true secret. No, we have to plan this out," he says slowly. "I almost never plan anything, but I think this requires some timing. We can't go rushing blindly in." He suddenly catches himself, and immediately apologizes. "Uh. Sorry. I didn't mean –"

Toph waves it away. "Zuko, I'm used to blind jokes, intentional or not. So don't sweat it." She nibbles on her cuticles. "But – mn – this is bad. We need to help those people, but…"

"I know," Zuko says quietly. "I was going to slip away tonight and help a few more get free. But that means you'll have to keep Hama distracted. Do you think you can do that for me?"

The earthbender nods. "Definitely."

xXxXx

In one night, Zuko manages to free all of the captives. Most of them don't question him. The one girl who acknowledged his curse thanks him, but says little more. They all flee back to their homes, their families, to food and water and shelter and security.

But Zuko knows that Hama will come back, see the damage done to her little prison, and look for more victims. He can't allow that, not when it's his people in danger, not when he knows that the right thing to do – what Aang would do – is to destroy this place.

And so, with careful precision, Zuko hacks kicks and sets torch to the supporting pillars and the rocks leading to the entrance, until all that is left of the mountain nook is a caved-in pile of boulders and rubble.

Hama is going to be furious. But Zuko could care less.

xXxXx

When Zuko returns to the inn in the morning, Katara and Hama are gone. Zuko wonders where to and why, but he soon gets his answer from a little conversation between Aang and Sokka.

"I wonder what Katara's learning right about now?" Aang says first. "I bet it must be awesome, learning some old Southern Water Tribe bending from a surviving master."

"Yeah, whatever," Sokka says with a roll of his eyes. "I bet whatever Hama teacher her, Katara will teach to you, too. She likes to share stuff like that." He forces himself up out of his lazy pose on a couch and cracks his back. "Welp, we better go looking around town to see why the spirits might be angry with the villagers here. I'm still sticking with the theory that people mysteriously vanishing at night during a full moon is some sort of Spirit World hocus-pocus. After all, that's how it was with Hei Bai."

Aang nods in agreement. "Right. Let's go, then."

But as they wander the beautiful landscape, admiring it, nothing comes to mind.

"I don't understand it," Aang remarks as he overlooks a breathtaking valley with a little river and a brightly green forest. "This is probably one of the most peaceful-looking environments in the Fire Nation. How did these people get the spirits angry?"

Toph shrugs. "It's during the full moon, right? So, maybe the moon spirit turned mean."

Sokka won't stand for that remark. He leaps at the chance to defend who Zuko knows all too well to be Yue. And Zuko also knows that Sokka's right; this isn't Yue's doing. It has nothing to do with "lunar goodness," and has everything to do with the fact that the moon isn't the culprit at all. It's Hama.

If only Zuko could speak to them, and tell them…

Instead, he has to settle with following the group of three into town again, where they search for an old man who's supposedly seen the "spirit" who's been taking people away.

Except as they near the village, the sunlight begins to dwindle. _No, not again!_ Zuko thinks as the moon starts to rise early once more, perfectly round and inescapable.

He dashes off, Aang calling after him. "Patches! Wait, where are you going?"

xXxXx

As Zuko dashes through the woods, looking for a place to hide, he hears Aang trailing behind him, calling out his pet-name, everyone else not too far behind. And Toph is trying to convince them to stay focused, and remind them that Patches always comes back, but Aang is clearly more concerned for the cat's well-being in a place like this to let him get away again.

But it winds up being a good thing.

As Zuko darts behind a bush and clamps a paw over his mouth to muffle his grunts of pain as he transforms under the nightshade of a tree. Aang and the others narrowly find him, but thankfully, they pass by as their attention is turned on something else.

And after recovering from changing again, Zuko sees why.

It's Hama. And Katara. And they are… bending. Bending _each other. _And the others. Using what? It can only be water, they are only waterbenders… _Oh. There is water in the human body,_ Zuko remembers with a shiver down his spine.

And it's awful, really, because he wants to leap out and stop all of this, but he's naked. And still seen as the enemy by everyone here (save for Toph, of course). He has no choice but to watch with a sickening churn in his stomach as Katara has to blood-bend Hama while the others take her. And watch as they turn her into the people coming into the woods in search of the woman who trapped them.

He watches silently, feeling helpless and defeated – because even though he helped those people escape, he doesn't feel like he did enough, can't feel like it was at all enough when Aang was in danger for a split second and he just _sat here, _unable to do one _measly thing_.

Sighing, he's able to go to Appa and wait out the night after everyone is gone from the area, and by morning, he's sleeping in the saddle, a relieved expression on Aang's face being enough for him. But there is still that dark thought in the back of his mind that Katara knows a dark form of bending, and hates it, which is good, but the bending itself… it frightens him beyond all reason. Because apart from perhaps using it as a healing technique, what moral good is there in knowing how to control every artery and vein in a person's body?


	13. Chapter XIII

**A/N: A summary chapter, so it's really short. HOWEVER, the next chapter is going to be really long because it's the climax of the story~! It's 'Western Air Temple' and 'Firebending Masters' merged together, so it's going to be really in-depth and awesome, and what I have been meaning to get to all along, since I first _started_ this darn fic TWO YEARS AGO. :'D**

* * *

Chapter XIII

Finally, they arrive.

After weeks of travel and planning, they are at the rendezvous point for the invasion of the fire nation. And with a few days to spare before the eclipse, too.

"If the moon is going to eclipse the sun for a few minutes, does that mean you'll transform?" Toph asks discreetly to the cat as she watches everyone set up their sleeping spots.

Zuko nods his furry head. The moon will be out, so he can only assume he will change. And by the gods, for once, he hopes he really will transform at this off-moment; he wants to hitch a ride up to the palace and down into the underground chambers (Azula told him in Ba Sing Se: she overheard that there is going to be an invasion. He still needs to warn Toph that the royal family will be moved down there, but she can't act like she knows it; there is so way she could know that Azula prepared the firebenders for this coming day) to his father's throne room. He needs to have a few words with him. And if he could see his uncle, he would apologize while he was at it, but that has to be saved for another time.

This is going to be big for all of them; for the rebellion against his home country, for himself, for the Avatar, and for the world.

xXxXx

Zuko is having stress-dreams. He dreams of his uncle, and how he had failed him. He dreams of Aang, and how he couldn't protect him from the firebending assassin, nor from Hama. He sees, in his dreams, Iroh at the gallows, waiting to be flamed down, his hands and feet bound. He sees Aang in the forest, hung in midair, contorted grotesquely, by Hama's blood-bending. And all the while, he is in his cat-form, unable to do little more than scratch and bite at the oppressor's face, whoever they are; executioner, Hama, anyone in his way from protecting the people he loves.

Zuko sweats and tosses and turns in his half-human form, tail swishing violently, ears flattened back against his head. He wakes with a start, shooting into sitting position and running the back of his hand against the cooling sweat at his hairline.

"Just a dream," he whispers to himself as a reminder. Beneath him, Appa groans in his sleep. Zuko blinks, rolls to the edge of the saddle, and hangs a hand over to pat and soothe Appa. It seems everyone is a little too stressed about the days coming.

xXxXx

Meanwhile, Aang dreams of the Fire Lord, and all of it excruciating. His friends try to aid him in conquering his fears and easing his insomnia, but the only thing that seems to keep him from rigorously over-training is Zuko climbing into his lap and nuzzling under his chin.

Aang calms down then, idly pets along Zuko's spine, and ruffles the base of his tail. But outside of those moments, it wind up taking a homemade bed to get him to finally sleep and change his nightmares around.

xXxXx

The night before the invasion, the one where Aang is peacefully asleep, Zuko slips into his clothes, sits at Aang's bedside, and strokes his fingertips gently across his forehead. He doesn't know how long he stares at Aang's sleeping face, but it's a bit too long, he's sure.

Then, just as quietly, he leaves to wake Toph and alert her to use her bending to see under the dormant volcano for the inner metal chambers where Zuko's father and sister will be waiting, safe and sound, during the eclipse. She's groggy, but she gets the message. She whispers with a slight smirk in reply, "I will, Patchy. You have my word."

xXxXx

Zuko is almost a little sad to see Aang shave his head for the first time in months, but it's necessary. He's a monk. He's the Avatar. He must display his airbender tattoos proudly so the entire mainland knows who he is when he descends upon them.

xXxXx

Toph fumbles as she secures clothing and some light weapons (a knife is the best she can do. Zuko's preferred weapon – his twin swords – is too heavy for his small body. Why couldn't he have been turned into a sturdier animal, like an ostrich-horse, or, better yet, an eel-hound?) to Zuko's back. When anyone asks, she simply says it's for protection, like Appa's armor. But she winks in Zuko's general direction before giving him a pat on the head.

He's ready, now. He'll ride with Aang on his glider to the palace, get off, enter the secret entrance into the chambers below, and face his father once and for all, now that he's a changed man and on the Avatar's side.

xXxXx

He wishes he could talk, if only to apologize for digging his claws so fiercely into Aang's shoulders as he holds on for dear life. This wouldn't be so bad if he were human, but being the tiny creature he is? It's the _worst._

Still, they're here.

It was a long journey to cross the sea and get through each level of the island, but they are finally here. Zuko is… _home._

He jumps down from Aang's back as Aang calls out, "Fire Lord Ozai… where ARE you?!" angrily at nothing. He glances back a few times before dashing off.

For the first time since he joined their group, Aang doesn't even notice.

xXxXx

The fire burns him and twists his muscles and bones and stretches out his tendons. Then, all at once, Zuko is human. Well, mostly; he covers his ears and tail with his clothes and a wrap around his head, and neatly tucks his knife into his waistband.

Taking a deep breath, Zuko takes the long trek down to the royal chamber. Azula's and his would-be throne room, however, because he knows from how he was trained as a boy that in times of crisis, the Fire Lord is always kept somewhere with the utmost safety.

When the guards see his face, they stop in their tracks. And, blinking stupidly, they let him through. Banished, fugitive prince or not, he is still the _prince. _And they did hear of how he helped at Ba Sing Se, even if he didn't return. They all probably assumed he was killed.

Well, he is very much alive, and as he enters through the large doors, he sees his father and can't help but smirk a little to himself as he sees the dictator go a little white in the face.

"Prince Zuko!" His father bursts forth, leaning forward in his throne. "You… you're alive. Your sister said you were taken by rebels after redeeming yourself –"

"No, Father," Zuko says with a steady voice, but his heart is beating rapidly in his chest. He only has right now to do this, and then he's back to being a cat, back to being the pet of the Gaang. "I am very much alive. But you're right about one thing: I _have _redeemed myself. And I'm here," he says as he takes what he hopes is a threatening step forward and takes out his knife. Guards jump to attention, but Ozai waves them away.

"Leave us. He won't harm his own father. But it seems I need to listen."

"Yes, you _do,_" Zuko snarls a bit cat-like. He clenches his teeth. "All my life I tried to live up to your standards, to be the perfect prince, and earn your love and respect. But that isn't right; a son shouldn't need to earn his father's love; it should be granted to him from birth, and it should be unconditional, like the love Mother and Uncle Iroh have shown and given to me. But you took my mother away from me and denied me that love, the love that would have otherwise shaped me into being a better person, a better ruler.

"Because, as I've seen, it takes respect and honor of morality to be a good ruler. You have to rule with peace and kindness, and only enforce just laws, if you want the people to respect and honor you in return. And Uncle Iroh taught me that. He's been more of a father to me than you have ever been or could be, and I wronged him. But I'm going to make it right. Because you see, _Father,_" and he spits the word, "I wasn't captured and killed by rebels. I've… I've been changed. I have joined the Avatar's group, and I have been with them since Azula's triumph in Ba Sing Se. When I vanished, I stow away with them. And they have yet to fully accept all of me, but with them, I have seen the damage you've done to our colonies and our own _homelands_, and I am willing to fight alongside them to make things right and return balance to the world!"

"You dare defy me in this way?!" Ozai shouts, standing from his seat. "You are a disgrace and a coward and a failure like my brother, and you don't deserve the throne!"

"I might not deserve it yet, but after the Avatar defeats you, I _will_ take over your throne and alongside him, together, we _will_ make this world a better place!" and with that, he can feel the first few tugs on his skin and muscles telling him that the eclipse is waning. As he turns and exits, he can hear his father's outrage behind him.

"You coward! You always have been and always will be a boneless coward like your uncle!"

And those words hurt more than any blow of lightning ever could, because he might be a coward, but Iroh is far from ever being considered one. His uncle is the bravest, wisest man Zuko knows, and he can only hope that, during this raid, he finds a means to escape the prison he's being held captive in.

xXxXx

He just barely makes it back on his four short legs to the Gaang before they retreat. His heart racing in his chest, his lungs on fire, he meows loudly. Toph is the one who feels and hears him coming, running at top speed, and she barks at the others to wait.

She catches Zuko as he jumps, unable to see him in the air, but he lands and she grips him just as she uses her earthbending to catapult them into the air to be caught by Appa's saddle.

"You found him!" Aang exclaims, and even Sokka laughs with relief and everyone rubs Zuko's head, and he smiles at them the only way a cat can.

But after this, he notices the way their faces look. They lost today. They proved a point, but they lost family members to become prisoners of war while they, the children, flee. Zuko feels that, too; he's been in that position with his uncle for a while now. He knows how they feel. He lets his ears droop as he lowers his head to rest on Toph's forearms.

He closes his eyes in sympathy, and hears distantly where they are headed: The Western Air Temple.


	14. Chapter XIV

**A/N: Aaaand I lied. Well, I mean, I wind up changing my mind. Sometimes I have these ideas - like, int he beginning, I meant for Aang to find Zuko transforming one night while at the Western Air Temple, and that's how he joins the group: by Aang's understanding/kindness and yadda yadda - but then I realized that I need to fit Combustion Man in here and I actually forgot I created the Riku alias, so in the end, I decided not to merge 'Western Air Temple' and 'Firebending Masters' and instead make them two separate chapters, and I decided to have the Zuko-reveal be a little less intimate since it wasn't very intimate in the show, either. And now there is this. I hope it's okay! **

* * *

Chapter XIV

"…This is humiliating."

Zuko nods in agreement from his perch on Teo's lap. Everyone else is too exhausted to carry him, and Aang's head and shoulders are currently being occupied by Momo. But it's all right; the inventor's son's lap is warm and comfortable, and he's never met this boy until the invasion, but he thinks they could be friends. Well… as much of friends as a cat and a human can be, he supposes. Teo seems to like him, but he might not if he knew who 'Patches' really is: the prince of the Fire Nation.

"Do you mean getting thoroughly whooped by the Fire Nation, or having to walk the entire way to the Western Air Temple?" Sokka supplies in riposte to his sister's remark.

She shrugs, half-sighs. "I don't know. Both?"

"Sorry, guys, but Appa just helped us fight a battle, and he gets tired carrying so many people," Aang says gently as he pets Appa's face beneath his armor. "Besides, it isn't too far, I think. We're almost there."

Sure enough, it isn't twenty feet later that they reach a dropoff on the island, and Toph exclaims, "Hey, we're here!"

But no one doesn't see anything. He glances around, leaning up in Teo's wheelchair, giving them the hint: look _under _the cliff's edge. He remembers; he's been here before. It was the first place he looked after being banished, bandages still fresh on his face. It's the closest Air Temple to the Fire Nation, and while it was also the first place the Fire Nation committed genocide, it was still the first hiding place he searched for the Avatar in. He had been confused as well as to where it was exactly, but his uncle had secured a rope and climbed down over the cliff, and he had followed.

"What a stunning view," Iroh had commented as he always did, trying to distract Zuko from his pains and worries, trying to make Zuko see the bigger picture. But Zuiko never did. He can now, after being a cat for so many months; but then, when he was young and foolish…

"_The only view I am interested in seeing is the Avatar in chains," Zuko had quipped darkly, his words clouded by the need to redeem his honor in his father's eyes. So foolish. He shouldn't have been so blind. But, ultimately, it did lead him here, with Aang, to get to know what an incredible person he is, and how wonderful his friends are. _

"_The Avatar hasn't been seen for over a hundred years. The chances of him being here are very slim. Why don't we –?"_

"_I have to look everywhere. I have to go where others might have missed him, or where they have stopped looking. He could be anywhere. He could be constantly moving around, and if I look, I can find him. I have to. I have no choice. First we will check all of the air temples, then we will scour the world, searching even the most remote locations until we find him."_

"_Prince Zuko… it has only been a _week _since your banishment. You should take some time first to heal and rest."_

And he knows now how pathetic it had been, how much of a wild goose chase even from the beginning. His father never expected results. It would be like finding a Pai Sho piece in the middle of the ocean. But at the time, Zuko hadn't cared. It was all he had to do, all he could do, in his eyes. Little did he knows how much grander it was to be a fugitive, to see the world on his own terms and live freely, with no real agenda, and to spend that time with his uncle.

But instead, all he did was cause himself – and his poor uncle – more pain.

"Uh, Toph? No offense, but I think your feet need their eyes checked," Katara says playfully, but mostly out of confusion. Zuko blinks his eyes out of the flashback the second he hears Katara's voice.

Zuko grins. Not only at the joke, but at the fact that Toph ignores it, because she can see it all dangling below her feet. "It's _amazing. _How did they even build this without earthbenders? The structure is really sturdy and sound, but it's hanging _upside-down._"

"What?" Katara and Sokka puzzle in unison.

"Come on, boy," Aang turns to Appa and pats his cheek. "One more ride for everyone, and then you can sleep, okay?"

xXxXx

The Duke, Teo, and Haru go off to explore, but Aang is held back. They discuss a new plan: master the elements, defeat the Fire Lord before Sozin's comet arrives. But Aang needs a firebending teacher.

_I could be his firebending teacher,_ Zuko thinks the same time Toph's gaze pans over to him. Her milky green eyes seem to bore into his skull, and she raises her eyebrows. Zuko panics. What does she expect from him? He can't just… just reveal his (essentially) human self one night and smile and say, 'Oh, yes, I am Patches, and I have been on your side since Ba Sing Se, and by the way, I can definitely teach Aang firebending! Good, great, now: who's ready for bed? I'm bushed!'

_Yeah, no. It doesn't work that way,_ Zuko sighs and drops his head into his paws. _I can't just say, 'Hi, Zuko, here! I would love it if you guys accepted me as part of your group since I kind of have been your cat all this time and I think it would be great if I could teach Aang firebending because, don't you know it, I want my father defeated, too! I don't care about my honor anymore, because the way to get it back is to do the right thing! Took me a while, huh?'_

He shakes his head and buries it deeper behind his black fur. He doesn't know what he's supposed to do. What would even help this situation at all? Aside from Toph, he doesn't have any allies.

But he's needed, and he knows it. He has been putting off revealing his identity this entire time because they hate him. But surely… surely, they would think differently of him since he wasn't at the invasion as far as they know? Surely, since he wasn't there with his father or Azula, that's something good? And he released Appa at Ba Sing Se. That was something good he did, too. And… and Yue. Sokka knows her, loved her; surely, if he explained her curse upon him, they would understand?

And it's not like, during this entire time he's been with them in cat form he's taken Aang in the night and turned him in. It's not like he's done anything to hurt them, not even so much as a scratch, really. So that's good, too, right?

…_Right?_

xXxXx

"Hey," Toph greets that night.

Zuko sighs and yanks his shirt over his head. "Hi."

She skips the following preliminaries and dives right into it. Zuko tenses, bracing himself for what he knows is coming, if her look at him earlier before Aang jetted off on his glider was any indication. "Aang needs a firebending teacher. And wouldn't you know it, you're a firebender! Mind lending a helping hand, here, Patches?" she asks as she throws up her hands at him, her voiced hushed. They are apart from everyone's conversation around the campfire (Toph claimed she needed to take a piss), but not far enough to be unheard.

"I know, I know…" Zuko grumbles, then sighs. "Look… I don't know how they'll react. And… and I'm not very good with, um, people. Not people who hate me, anyway. What would I even _say_?"

"I'll be right there with you, dummy," Toph reminds with a punch in his arm; her sign of affection, he knows all too well. "I'll back you up. Just tell them the truth. And, you know… it couldn't hurt to tell Aang the truth, too."

Zuko's face goes red. "Shut up."

"Easy there, tiger," she smirks, but even as she does, she softens and scoots closer to him, awkwardly rubbing her arm before patting his knee. "You know you've become like a brother to me, right?"

Zuko runs a hand through his hair, but he nods. "Yeah. You're like the rowdy, but _nice _little sister I never had."

Toph flinches. "Uhg. Your sister is kind of…"

"An evil, manipulative bitch?"

She chuckles under her breath. "Don't forget psycho."

"Yeah, that too," Zuko says with a bitter smile. "But where were you going with this?"

"I was just saying that, you know, it won't be so bad if you show yourself to them. Aang already calls the cat version of you 'Chibi Zuko,' and he said he would like you even if you were secretly a human, and so would the others. And he needs a firebender. And 'Riku' – man, you have a lot of aliases, huh? – wasn't cut out for the job, but the ex-prince might be, don't you think? Plus, everyone else is okay with you. And if you tell them you're also Riku, they will know you're on their side, because you've helped them in the past."

"But I didn't help when Hama was attacking them… what if they bring that up?"

"You had no clothes to cover your man-parts and disguise yourself! I don't think they will think of that or hold it against you. Plus, you did help us then, or did you forget that you freed all of that crazy-lady's prisoners in the mountain?" Toph reminds.

Zuko sighs heavily. "You're right."

"Damn straight I['m right. And remember when I first told you when we met? You can't go blaming yourself for everything. It never got anyone anywhere. Man, you and Aang with your guilt-issues… you two need to stop beating yourselves up. But hey, that's another thing you two have in common, and another thing you two can pick each other up about."

"…You really think we can be together? I mean, that he's the person who can break my curse?" Zuko whispers.

"I know so. If anyone can love even their enemy, it's Twinkle-Toes. But… I don't know about being together. At least not forever. Think about it, Zuko: who is going to repopulate the airbender race but Aang? He needs to have kids, or there will never be another airbender again, and if there isn't another airbender to live beyond him, then there won't be anyone to teach the new Avatar airbending. It's just… it makes sense," Toph says sadly. "But I don't think that will stop him from loving you back. He can love you… and then love a woman later. Tons of people have multiple loves in their lives, so you have a chance, I just know it."

Zuko swallows and nods. He has had a sickening feeling in his gut all along about that. He hasn't wanted to think about it, about how Aang is the last airbender and needs to change that by having children. And the only way to have children is, of course, with a woman. He knows that. Has known that. But he hasn't wanted to face it, because he's been hoping that, eventually, he could make Aang see him as he is, as Zuko (a _human, _not just as an uncannily resembling cat), and have the spell broken by Aang's returned feelings.

But maybe it's best he never knows. Zuko can stay a cat until he dies, and becoming Riku only when he needs to act; that could be fine, really, it could. Loving Aang in secret, being a secret hero, and having the world forget about Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation. Someone else, someone other than Azula who is more deserving of the throne (perhaps someone elected by the people, or the Avatar?) to take his place.

Yeah, that might be best. Then everyone else wins.

Zuko can live with that. It can be the most selfless thing he's ever done, something to make up for a live of wrong choices and mistakes and awful decisions.

xXxXx

"Are you sure you don't want something more to eat? You're getting a little lanky, there, kitty," Katara worries aloud the following morning.

"Is Chibi Zuko sick?" Aang asks, voice laden with concern, as he rubs his eyes and stumbles off of the shores of sleep. "I can get some frozen frogs."

Sokka grimaces and Katara laughs. "No, that's all right. I don't think he's _that _sick. But it's been scary these past few days; I'm sure he just needs to adjust. Right, Patches? You're just a little stressed. Your weight will be back up and you'll eat normal again after you get used to this place, won't you, sweetie?" and she strokes along his spine, and he lifts his tail into the air, forgetting how much he missed being properly pet after the insanity of the past few days.

'You have no idea,' he mewls, wanting to tell her precisely how stressed he actually is. He sends a glance Aang's way, but Aang is preoccupied getting his own breakfast with the others.

Later that day, Combustion Man – and he's come to be called – attacks their campsite.

xXxXx

They fight with him through the evening, escaping when they can. But it's a mess; he's destroying everything, and they can't get a clear shot of him.

Finally twisting into human form, Zuko grabs his dark spare clothes, his hidden swords, and becomes his human alias.

He knocks the assassin to the ground and gets a few strikes in, but is soon cast off and left slinging to a vine. "Sokka! Your boomerang!"

"Thank you mysterious voice in the sky!" Sokka cries out as he aims his boomerang very, very particularly. And in one swift hit, the man tries to firebend and blows himself up.

Zuko slides down, swings the vine, and lands on his feet, one hand bracing himself on the ground.

"Riku!" "You're back!" Katara and Aang say at the same time, rushing over to him. Toph and the others aren't far behind.

"Who's this character?" Haru says suspiciously. "We can't see his face. How can we trust him?"

"He's just this mysterious guy who comes along sometimes at just the right moments at night to help us with some problem or another. It's just one of those things, I guess," Sokka shrugs. He smiles and claps Zuko on the back. "Thanks again. You know, you should stick around this time. If you keep finding us, I'd feel less stalked if you were just with us."

"No, I don't think –" Zuko says hurriedly, waving his hands in the air.

"Come on, you're helped us enough times to earn our trust, I think. At least, you have mine. You've saved my life especially, and at this point, we can use all the allies we can get. And I want to see your face," Aang adds. "So come on, Riku, please?"

Behind the airbender, Toph makes a gesture of encouragement.

Zuko sighs. "Fine. Um…" He shifts uncomfortably foot to foot. "I'm –" and he's about to remove the cloth around his face, he really is, but the ground starts to shake and rubble starts to fall.

"This tower took too much abuse!" Toph screams. "It's unstable; it's going to fall!"

"Hurry, everyone get on Appa!" Aang cries out, blowing his bison whistle as he produces it from a pocket in his trousers.

And Zuko is too slow to make the leap. The ground drops from under his feet before he can so much as twitch a leg. Everyone is on Appa, but he, the stranger to the rest of the group, is too far away to make it.

Air rushes at his face and blows the cloth from around his head, and he spreads his arms to slow his fall, but there is no mistaking his fate as the ground miles below the cliff's edge rush to meet him.

"Riku!" Aang yells, and he jumps into his glider. He dives downward, and airbends a cushion to help keep Zuko aloft. He puts his hands over his face as Aang swoops in and catches him with the top of the glider. Zuko clings with his legs and one hand, but keeps his face burying in his other arm, pinned against the spine of the glider. "Hold on!"

Back on Appa and back on the solid ground of another temple, Zuko has no choice but to face them all. But not yet. He removes his arm, but he faces away from them all, standing in a beam of moonlight, his cat ears tipped downward in shame. To them, it must look like he had curly hair that flips out to the sides. He hopes they don't notice in the darkness whatthey really are, though it would explain why he's always around, always right where they are.

"Why do you hide your face so much?" Katara murmurs kindly. "It's all right, we –"

"Maybe he's scarred," Sokka shrugs. "Or maybe he's a spy after all." And he narrows his eyes.

"Both seem possible," Haru offers.

"What if he's someone you guys already know?" Teo suggests.

Aang touches 'Riku's shoulder, but respects him enough not to step forward and look at his face. "Hey, it's okay, whoever you really are. You just saved us again, so you can't be that bad. And if you were a spy, you never turned in our location to anyone, as far as I know. Unless _you _sent that weird firebender on our trail?"

"No, I'm sure that was Princess Azula who did that. She was paranoid that you lived, and rightly so, too, since she saw you again during the invasion."

"You know about that? Were you there?" he hears Katara ask in the background.

Zuko sighs. He has no choice, now. He had to reveal himself. So much for being their innocent little pet forever. "Yeah. But I couldn't help you then. I… I'm your cat, Patches. See?" and he yanks his tail out from his pants and perks up his ears so they can see both in the moonlight. "But…" and he hesitates, and feels Aang's hand leave his shoulder as he steps backward and gapes at him. "I'm also, uh, Zuko. Hi," he offers as he turns around to face the entire group.

The only face that isn't stricken with utter shock is Toph's. She steps forward. "Before any of you judge him, he's telling the truth. I've known since we found him on the ship." And she stands in front of him with her arms folded over her chest, her stance parted and defensive. "So don't hurt him. He's only meant good this entire time. He's changed since you've all known him. And he cares about us. Right, Patchy?"

"Yes," Zuko says as strongly as he can. Although he's a little distracted by Aang's gaze. Out of all of them, his is the most gentle.

"Toph, I can see you're on this guy's side, but do you have any idea how much he's chased us around. How do we know he didn't go to some hoo-do witch doctor person and get himself changed into a cat just so he can spy on us and slip into our group long enough to gain information and report back to his daddy dearest, huh?" Sokka interjects with a suspicious brow raised.

Zuko winces. "I understand your suspicions, Sokka, but that's not true at all. Uh. It's just – Actually, I was kind of cursed by –" and he falters as he sees Katara storm off angrily (clearly not believing a word of it) and Teo and Haru and The Duke look on with confusion so thick it's drowning their other senses.

However, Sokka is seeming to change his mind. By laughing._ Loudly_. "Wow, no, actually, I know that's not it, because the irony is just too perfect. The Big Bad Fire Prince getting turned into a wittle kitty-cat, unable to do anything for his precious mission of honor restoratioin? It's pretty hilarious when you think about it! I mean, I can imagine you deserved it for all the shit you've done, but who even has the power to turn peiople into animals, even for a witch? It'd have to be a spirit or a god. And why a cat, of all things? That's so weak and pathetic, hahaha! So never mind, you're a jerk, but you're not smart enough to come up with a plan like that. It must really have been a curse, like you said. 'Cause, oh, man… Cute Little Kitty-Prince… I can't even fathom it… hahaha!"

Zuko growls. "I'm glad my life is so funny to you!" he barks, but he can feel the sting of tears in the pits of his eyes. He did deserve it. He even still does, despite all the good he's tried to do. He's a coward, and he knows it, and he never did plan on telling them, not really. Because it requires love to break it, and for so long, they all hated him…

Shaking his head, he whips his tail against his leg and flattens his ears, turning away from them with clenched fists.

"I knew this wasn't going to turn out well. That's why kept my identity from you. I know you all don't like me, and I don't blame you. So if you want…" He sighs, eyes downcast. "I can leave."

"What? No way!" Aang states firmly. "You were our pet for so long, and we liked you. And besides, you're not the same person you were. I can see that. And Toph said it, and I trust her judgment. Don't mind Sokka; he'll warm up to you. And Katara will, too, with time. The others don't even know you that well, so they shouldn't be a problem. So please, Zuko. Stay." And his eyes are begging, Zuko knows. He isn't sure he wants to look.

"I need her forgiveness, actually. I was… I betrayed Katara at Ba Sing Se, let's just say that," Zuko murmurs. He feels his stomach flip in his gut as he returns his gaze to Aang's face. "But you don't… you really don't need to feel the need to accept me so easily, Aang. If anything, I've wronged you more than anyone."

"That's not true," Aang says softly. "As the Blue Spirit, you saved me from Zhao. And I could have left you to him, but I didn't like Zhao; you were just a confused kid. He was a ruthless adult. And after I saved you, you let me go when you really didn't have to. You could have kept chasing me then, but... you didn't. And at the North Pole, you stole me again, but didn't think it through. But I think that's because you really only ever had this mission that you knew was impossible, so when it was finally possible, it threw you. And you never meant to harm me, I don't think. Did you?"

"…No. I only wanted to have my father's love. To prove to him that I could be a good son. But I know it was wrong. There's no pleasing him unless I'm as corrupt as he and my sister are. And I don't want to be that."

"See? I knew there was good in you. So I say you can join us, Zuko. You were already with us, after all," and he smiles, rubbing one of Zuko's ears.

Zuko shivers and tries not to let it show how nice that feels, intensified in his human form. But he warily returns the smile. His heart feels like it's bursting with warmth. "Thank you, Avatar."

Sokka shrugs and starts to walk away. "Yeah, sure, have the reformed enemy join the group. As long as he teaches Aang firebending and helps us defeat his evil daddy, I could care less. But hey, if he does anything to double-cross us… I can't say Katara or I won't thoroughly kick his ass."

"You're just saying that because you like him as a cat," Toph remarks. "And you know that as a cat, he can't really do anything." She smiles and half-turns toward Zuko. "It's an empty threat, Patchy, so don't worry."

Sokka doesn't comment, merely turns back and winks.

xXxXx

Katara, however, is less trusting. She seems… hurt. Personally victimized by Zuko. And he can't say he blames her.

"All those times I let you snuggle up to me… you were trying to butter me up. You knew this day would come, didn't you? The day you had to reveal yourself. Of course; it was bound to happen one time or another, huh? And I thought, as Riku, you were so cool. Weird for always popping up to help us, and a bit odd that it was such perfect timing, but of course it was! You were our cat! And I trusted you, blindly, as all humans do with cute little creatures, but you were playing us! Well, I've got news for you, pal: I'm not buying it. You may have Aang fooled and you might have my brother lured into a false sense of security, but I know your games. I know how you play. People don't change, so neither have you, not really. You're evil, just like the rest of your family. And if you slip up, if you so much as harm one flake of skin on Aang, I won't hesitate to kill you."

Her tirade over, Katara storms out of Zuko's given room in the temple. He shudders and collapses onto his cot.

He whole-heartedly believes her.

A flash of sinking cold dashes his insides. He remembers her blood-bending, and he almost starts to cry. But he stiffens up and dabs at his moist eyes and keeps his chin held high. He had Aang and Toph on his side, and really, those are the only people he needs.

Still, though. He wants everyone to accept him. It's human nature, to want to be accepted. And he can't help it; he wanted his father's respect, and now he wants Katara's. And he's going to do everything right; he's going to try the best he can to mend this, because his life is on the line, and in a way, so is Aang's.

With that final thought, he rolls over, curls up on his side with his tail between his legs, and drifts off to sleep.


End file.
